Sur La Table, Inc. is a privately heldretail company based in Seattle, Washington, that sells kitchenware products, including cookware, cutlery, cooks' tools, small electrics, tabletop and linens, bakeware, glassware and bar, housewares, food, and outdoor. As of October 2018, Sur La Table sold products in 184 stores in 32 states across the country including the District of Columbia, as well as through their website and catalogs. Cooking classes are available in over 80 stores. Sur La Table has a blog, A Sharp Knife & Salt, that focuses on food, chefs, restaurants and products. Many of the company's stores offer culinary classes and Sur La Table plans to include a kitchen into every new store that they open. The company's corporate headquarters is located in Seattle's Georgetown neighborhood. In French, sur la table means on the table.
History
Shirley Collins founded Sur La Table in 1972, opening a single retail location in Seattle's Pike Place Market. In 1995, Collins sold the company. In 2005, Kathy Tierney took over as the chief executive officer and advocated an expansion policy of opening new stores in "lifestyle centers", malls, and on city streets, "with a mix of upscale national brands and creative local merchants, anchored by an upscale or organic-themed grocery store that encourages frequent trips", Sur la Table became the second-largest specialty cookware retailer in the United States behind Williams Sonoma. In January 2011, Sur la Table launched a website and gift registry program. In September 2011, Sur La Table was purchased by Bahrain-based Investcorp. On February 18, 2020, it was reported that Sur La Table and Discovery, Inc., will team up together to produce a "first-of-its-kind cooking ecosystem" which will allow students to participate with the in-store cooking class via online streaming. In June 2020, The company announced that it would indefinitely lay off 27 workers, or about 18% of the staff at its corporate headquarters in Georgetown. The separations begin on July 1 and do not include severance packages. In July 2020, Sur La Table filed for bankruptcy.
