Lisa Orphanides is the worst salesperson on Earth, a title that she bears with great resolve.
As the owner of the Cookery Ware Shop at Peddler’s Village, Lisa conducts business with honesty and integrity—exactly how her mother taught her. And sometimes, that honesty means talking her customers out of a purchase rather than into one.
“It’s never about a hard sell,” she says. “Our customers come into the shop knowing we won’t push them into something they’re not going to like or use. They know I’m going to say, ‘You don’t need four of those, you just need one.’”
For 50 years, such a policy has served the Cookery Ware Shop well, earning it a reputation for doing honest business and building a network of loyal customers.
The Shop first opened its doors on July 4, 1969, after Florence Kummer (Lisa’s grandmother) and her daughter, Barbara Orphanides, decided to start a business centered around a hobby they both adored: cooking. They stocked the shelves with the finest culinary products on the market—from the most basic tools to the most obscure—with offerings to suit every budget and skill level.
After her grandmother retired from the business, Lisa worked alongside her mother for 25 years, eventually taking over the Shop entirely after her mother’s passing in 2013.
“I have so many fond memories of growing up with this store,” Lisa said. “From time to time my sister and I would come in to ‘help out,’ and we would put tea cozies on our heads and run around the store until my mother told us to quit it.”
Lisa carries forth the legacy of the Cookery Ware Shop—one built on the values of family, exceptional services, and fun—with great love, always remaining true to the store’s roots.
“I do believe that if you love what you do, you never have to work a day in your life, and that’s how I feel about this store,” she said. “I’m exceedingly and eternally grateful for having what I have here and that my grandmother and mother had the foresight and wherewithal to open a business that has now become mine.”