May 31, 2007

Culinary couple keep shop alive; Millette’s Kitchen Store changes ownershipBy Anna SowaBendBulletin.com

In early February, Bend residents Jake and Ginger Aguirre strolled into Millette’s Kitchen Store on Northwest Newport Avenue in Bend looking for a teapot – three months later, they would own the longtime Central Oregon shop.

Ginger Aguirre, 53, remembers asking owners Pat and Rollo Millette why they were selling. The answer was simple.

“I said, ‘What would you do if you’re 78?'” Rollo Millette recalled.

That set the wheels in motion, and Aguirre couldn’t sleep for three nights, pondering buying a business that meets her and her husband’s wish to work together and in the culinary world they love.

Friday is the first day that the Aguirres assume ownership of the store that the Millettes have owned for 27 years – 22 of which were at the Sunriver Village Mall. The boutique kitchen store stocks a variety of kitchen and dining ware, including Le Creuset cookware and Jura Capresso machines that can top $3,000. Every customer is greeted with a Millette smile and offered a cup of gourmet coffee or a cappuccino from the shop espresso maker, with a dusting of sweeteners, if desired.

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