What do you call it when independent minds, thinking similar thoughts, cross paths by coincidence, resulting in a singular idea?
"I guess it's a classic case of serendipity," mused LCC President and CEO Bill Owen.
It all began in Asheville, Frankfort and Owenton, and the result is now open for business in downtown Lexington: a new concept for the marketing and sale of things - from foods and wines to music and art - made in Kentucky.
Elk Creek Vineyards owner Curtis Sigretto has opened a "Kentucky Proud Market" in The Shops at Lexington Center. The concept has taken up residence in the handsome, wood-paneled second-level space formerly occupied by the Orvis, The Outdoor Store. "I'm thinking of having these in every major mall in the state of Kentucky," said Sigretto, who already operates full wine stores in Louisville and Florence. "We'll have to see if we can make money at it - if the merchandise will actually sell retail," he said.
The long and winding road
A native of New Jersey, Sigretto's careers have ranged from commercial fishing boat operator to wine shop, party business and winery owner.
Eighteen years ago, as owner of a Party City franchise in Asheville, N.C., Sigretto noticed how the Halloween merchandise flew off the shelves as the holiday approached, inspiring him to launch what became known across much of the country as Halloween Express. That enterprise began with three seasonal stores in South Carolina. "We now have about 180-stores in 40 states, so we know retail and we know the Internet," he said during an interview as fit-up work in the new Lexington Center store continued all around him.
Sigretto was invited in 1995 to become a partner in a Halloween merchandise factory in Cincinnati. "But I didn't want to live in the city," he said. "I like to hunt." So he moved not to Ohio, but across the river to rural Kentucky, buying a 165-acre farm outside of Owenton. "I had no idea what to do with it. It was pretty," he recalled. Before long, the farm boasted a hunt club and a sporting-clays shooting range. Winemaking commenced in 2003.
Today, Elk Creek Winery produces - in dry Owen County, no less - 24 wines from 20 types of grapes, ranging in price from $10 to $25 a bottle. The winery, an hour's drive from Lexington, Louisville and Cincinnati, and located in a beautiful $2.5 million building, is part of a tourist complex that includes a bed-and-breakfast inn, a wine tasting room, a deli and an art gallery along with the sporting-clays shooting course and an outdoor concert stage. The 2009 Sporting Clays U.S. Open will be held there in late June.
The final leg of Sigretto's journey to serendipity opened before him while marketing his wines to Northern Kentucky's Remke Markets. "They were doing a Kentucky Proud promotion for the whole month of September. I got involved with a lot of the Kentucky Proud people up there and realized that they weren't really retailers. They didn't really know how to sell what they had because they're mostly farmers. So, the light came on, and I said, 'I can do this. That's what I do!'"
When two worlds collide
Already operating an Elk Creek Wines kiosk at Fayette Mall, Sigretto had been interested in establishing something similar in the Lexington Center to capture the attention of ball game crowds. Aware of this, Tom Bennett, head of special projects at WKYT, introduced Sigretto to LCC chief Bill Owen who - it turned out - had been thinking similar, if not bigger, thoughts. "We can do that," Owen said of the kiosk idea to Sigretto, "but let me introduce this other idea to you," leading the entrepreneur to the space formerly occupied by Orvis.
"Well," recalled Owen, "as soon as we walked into the space, he said 'Yeah, I'll do this!'"
The idea had been knocking around in Owens' head for some time. "In Rupp Arena, we have a sponsorship agreement with Kentucky Proud. They're on the video screens, and we have marketing relationships with a variety of Kentucky Proud members to intentionally market their foods in our concession stands. We've worked with them to advance not only the Kentucky Proud imaging in the arena for fans and patrons to see, but also to taste." Owen also noted the relationship between Rupp Arena and former Wildcat star and current state Agriculture Commissioner Richie Farmer, who happens to oversee the Kentucky Proud program.
When the Orvis store vacated its space, Owen said a lightbulb went off. "That space is laid out in a way that is conducive to having a variety of departments," he noted. "And what better place than the Lexington Center, which gets more than a million visitors a year, to expose the Kentucky Proud concept," adding that Sigretto would have access not only to game crowds but the throngs of people attending conventions and concerts as well.
As the store layout was coming together at press time, a large section had been designated to feature Elk Creek wines as well as those of at least eight other labels representing Kentucky's growing wine industry. Alltech secured a roomy alcove to market World Equestrian Games merchandise and Kentucky Ale products. And Joseph Beth Booksellers has space for sales of books and CDs by Kentucky authors and artists. The inventory is completed with an array of products that have met the state's criteria to bear the royalty-free "Kentucky Proud" logo - from meats and cheeses to spices, sauces and artisan merchandise made in the Commonwealth.
Pride of Kentucky
"Kentucky Proud" became the state's permanent farm marketing program when Governor Steve Beshear signed House Bill 626 into law last summer. Retail partners include Kroger, Good Foods Co-Op, Liquor Barn, Bigg's, Slone's Signature Markets, Wal-Mart, Whole Foods, Meijer, Paul's Market, Rainbow Blossom, Remke Markets, Save-A-Lot and ValuMarket. But until now, there was no retailer devoted specifically to marketing the products from a single location.
The more than 1,300 "Kentucky Proud" producers and processors across the Commonwealth are marketing everything from field grown and cut flowers, fruits and dairy products to baked goods, beverages, Christmas trees and even bison. In addition to providing logo promotional materials at cost, the "Kentucky Proud" program offers help with retail, food service and institutional marketing as well as advertising, sales promotions, merchandising, public relations campaigns and special media promotions throughout the year.
Bill Clary, spokesman for the Kentucky Department of Agriculture, said the state has licensed the use of its Kentucky Proud intellectual properties to Sigretto and will be watching his progress in Lexington and encouraging the prospect of statewide expansion.
Owen said he was especially grateful to Commissioner Farmer for his enthusiastic support of the concept. "By officially sanctioning the project and permitting the name "Kentucky Proud Market," the project benefits from immediate brand recognition. Commissioner Farmer did not have to do that, and frankly, there is a risk for him and the department in doing so. Our goal is to make the project something of which we will all take pride," he said.