Bringing the promise of the harvest to your home
No frills, yet stylish Vendange opened a Pop-up store earlier in November, smack in the middle of Plett’s Main Street. Look out for it in the Checkers Centre opposite the Caltex station and below Double Shot coffee station. Besides being the first food, wine and olive oil accessory store in the area, its lifespan has raised eyebrows, too: the store will close at the end of January 2016. Open only for the holiday season, this seven day per week store features specialty industry décor products, including Trudeau Boutique Vineyards cheese boards made from recycled wine barrels and handcrafted by residents of the Franschhoek community.
What a great opportunity for Plettonians and Joburg by the Sea to splurge on some holiday gifts and home décor.
The two brothers, Richard and Oliver Davies’, are no stranger to the decor industry. They grew up in the heart of the winelands and their background is in the furniture business. If you haven’t seen one already, you will soon covet one of their trademark Trudeau cheese and baguette boards. The boards are in high demand and are current- ly stocked in home décor and specialty sto- res throughout South Africa. They also export into the US, Australia and Europe.
The theme of the Plett store is rustic and re- fined home décor, wine and olive oil acces- sories. Here you will find a treasure of gifts including their signature Boutique Vineyard Trudeau boards, driftwood statues, Pewter Champagne buckets, Carved fish statues, Waterford olive oil and interesting décor items.
Get your holiday shopping done early and head to Plett’s new Vendange store for the perfect gift!
A short Q&A with owner Richard Davies
Why did you choose Plett as the location for your next store? We have been travelling to Plett for 15 years as a family and love the town and the people that visit the area over December as well as some of the local folk who we have befriended. Gau- teng is also our main target market so it seemed like a good spot to open a Pop-up for the season as December has often been reffered to as ‘Joburg by the Sea’.
What specialty products will be available at the Plett store? Our dad Nick has many years of woodworking behind him, he has hand crafted 30 one of a kind fish carvings which will not be available in any of our other stores. They will make great display pieces in a couple of Plett homes this year.
What are your business developments for 2016? We have two new exciting sites in JHB which will be much larger than our current stores offering larger
furniture pieces. We hope to open the first store by 1 May 2016.
What inspired you with your cheese/bread boards? Our love of the wine industry from studying at Stellenbosch, our family background in furniture and décor and a good business opportunity that hadn’t been fulfilled.
Your round barrel lid board has become one of your signature items – are you offering any deals on this board in Plett? Our barrel lid board is one of our best sellers. We have 300 units available selling at R450 discounted down from R590 as a Plett special to our customers.
Where do you like to buy your home décor items? Baring our own products, my house has items from Weylandts, Coricraft, Mr Pri- ce Home aswell as antique second hand shops. It’s not so much about where you buy from, it’s how you match and display them.
What is your favourite olive oil? Do you plan to stock it? Waterford Wine Estate have just released their own olive oil which tastes fantastic. The production of this is currently quite small but we managed to get our hands on a few bottles for the store.
Of all the items in your shops, what is something you would say is a “must have” for the holiday season? We have an array of dispo- sable placemats with Christ- mas themes aswell as for general use selling at R195 for a pack of 24 sheets. For the Plett season we are also running a special on oval salmon boards selling at R149.95 which are perfect for any beach house.
What is a coveted item you dream about to have in your home? Right now I am pretty happy with my home. I have always wanted an under- ground cellar where I could store wine and entertain people.
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24 | DECEMBER 2015 / JANUARY 2016 CEMAIR SKYNEWS