Jessica and Jeff Garrelts purchased Cottonwood Kitchen + Home in 2011 and haven’t looked back. In 2018 they began renovating the old J.C. Penney location and moved into their fresh new Cottonwood Kitchen + Home space soon after. Jessica continues to grow the business in exciting new ways by offering cooking classes and pop-up lunches. After acquiring Annie Greenthumb’s in 2022 you can now find a full-service floral department located in the store, fitting named Cottonwood Floral. Jessica mentioned that the floral department focuses on modern and beautiful arrangements for weddings, events, holidays, and everyday occasions. Cottonwood Kitchen + Home hosts a wedding registry, and the new floral department compliments their wedding-related offerings.
Speaking to the cooking classes and pop-up lunches, Jessica encourages people to get their seats early! If you’re not familiar with pop-up lunches, you should definitely try to make it to one! The reason Jessica wanted to start hosting them at Cottonwood Kitchen + Home was to connect the community in the kitchen. As a lunch patron, you get your own individual servings from the featured menu to enjoy as a community at one of the large tables provided. Jessica is a connector and a people person, you can see that not only in the pop-up lunch concept, but also in the hiring she does for the store. She makes sure she hires the right people to fit the role. You can feel that when you enter the store from the happy greetings and willingness to assist you with whatever you may need – the staff knows their stuff.
A brand that may not be on your radar that Jessica wanted to feature is Savannah Bee Company. The brand speaks to her in many ways, but the most relatable are that Jessica went to school in Savanna, GA and she loves the product. Savannah Bee Company searches the world for the best honey, their motto is “We love bees. And Honey. In that order.” Savannah Bee Company also promotes saving the bees and has a program called The Bee Cause Project where they have grants to put beehives in schools to teach kids about the importance of bees and their impact on the environment. The company has a goal to get one beehive in every state. Fun Fact – Holy Name Catholic School has a bee hive from The Bee Cause Project. Jessica feels that, “The Savannah Bee Company represents our store because it’s immersive, kids and adults love it.” Customers can sample honey and watch videos of honey bees while they shop! Cottonwood Kitchen + Home is a Queen Bee, they have a high volume of Savannah Bee Company sales because it’s a great product from an amazing company.
Coming soon to Cottonwood Kitchen + Home is Compartes brand chocolate. Jessica said that Compartes has fabulous chocolate and some of the designs on the products have been in the Smithsonian, so stay tuned for that fun addition!
