The Little Kitchen Shop Opens on Main Street

Dianne Muzalewski is an accountant in Newport during the week but dreams of working full time in her store, The Little Kitchen Shop, which she just opened at 176 Main St.

A resident of East Greenwich, Muzalewski's cooking skills came from her grandmother, whom she describes as a very special woman who spent a lot of time with her in the kitchen and instilled in her a love of cooking. 

That love of cooking kept alive the dream of doing something related to the kitchen and finally resulted in opening the Main Street store. Her daughter runs the store during the week and Muzalewski herself is there on weekends.

Part of her vision for the store is to get people back into the kitchen. She hopes more children will become interested in cooking and maybe build memories as she did with her grandmother.

To make that happen she said she is stocking a little bit of everything that will suit everybody’s needs. “And in this economical time," she said, “it is important to sell a product that has a value and a use.”

Although grocery store shelves are filled with ready-made products, Muzalewski said cooking from scratch is still popular. To help those cooks, she stocks a big selection of  bulk spices, selling them in any quantity so cooks don’t have to invest in a big jar of a strange new spice when trying out a new recipe.

There are also lots of jars of loose tea, which she said will make a nice addition to the summer beverage list. Very soon there will be tea tastings and tea specials at least once a week. 

To set herself apart from those big stores with hundreds of items, Muzalewski plans a lot of cooking demonstrations. The first one took place during the recent Main Street stroll, which drew a steady crowd.

And she is buying locally whenever possible, including honey from an apiary in East Greenwich. Even her olive oil has a Rhode Island connection. She buys it from a man in Narragansett who imports it from his family in Italy.

Gifts and unique products will also be part of the mix. On a recent afternoon, she was considering the contents of a sample box of Amish popcorn products from Indiana.

While gift items are an important part of the inventory, Muzalewski says the real focus is on serving and entertaining at home.