October 17, 2007

‘Connoisseurs of Yumminess’

Sara Canterbury arranges a store display at Simple Indulgences, 20 W. William St., Unit A. The gourmet food and wine store is celebrating its first year of business in downtown Delaware.

Doty and Canterbury are celebrating the one-year anniversary of Simple Indulgences, 20 W. William St., Unit A.

The store, which opened on Oct. 13, 2006, sells gourmet goodies, fine wines, and custom gift baskets.

“We don’t sell anything you can buy anywhere else in Delaware,” Canterbury says of the store’s cookies, candy, jams, jellies, pasta fixings, dip mixes, and other food items. “We want our store to be unique. That’s very important to us.”

The store also takes pride in its selection of Delaware-produced items, including “Habanero Hound Dog” salsa and pepper jelly.

Simple Indulgences also is proud of its extensive wine selection, Canterbury says, which now totals nearly 120 types, including Spanish wines, sweet wines, and several organic wines.

“We also sell some really good Ohio wines, including a cabernet sauvignon that we just discovered,” she says. “We get new wines every other week, so we’re always adding stuff.”

Though Simple Indulgences has been open in downtown Delaware for just 12 months, Doty and Canterbury have been working together for several years. They met in 2001, when both were using their merchandising backgrounds to create product displays for a large retail store at Polaris Fashion Place.

Doty left the job to start a family, and then opened her own in-home business, called Baskets Unique, in September 2003. Canterbury joined her in January 2004.

“We knew it was time to move when people kept knocking on Stanya’s door and shopping in her basement,” Canterbury recalls. “And we wanted to add wine.”

Canterbury says she loves the proximity to Ohio Wesleyan University and is always happy to meet students and their families.

“Once parents find us, they’re like ‘Ohhh!’ ” Canterbury exclaims, explaining that Simple Indulgences will deliver care packages of snacks and other goodies to OWU students who need a pick-me-up. Canterbury also has added cans of chicken noodle soup and cough drops for one flu-battling Bishop.

“We’re happy to help people with special requests,” she says. “Sometimes you really need chicken soup.”

Simple Indulgences is open Monday through Thursday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Friday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. For more information, visit the Simple Indulgences Web site.

– Cole Hatcher