Business Focus: Spice Traders offers oils, vinegars, more
Longtime Spokane Valley business owners Bill Coyle and Jan Love hope to spice up lives and tantalize taste buds with their new shop.
The couple recently opened Spice Traders Mercantile in the same location as their Plantland Nursery where they have long been helping customers choose garden and landscape greenery. The spice business is located in a remodeled section that once housed the nursery gift store, and the owners say it complements the seasonal aspect of the local nursery industry while taking them on a new course as well.
“I’d like the Valley to know it’s a new experience, not just a store,” Love said.
Customers will find a vast array of products throughout the 1,000-square-foot interior. Clear glass jars filled with fresh and exotic spices line the walls. Nearby is a section of artisan craft salts ranging in aromas and flavors from lemon to wild truffle. At the back of the store is a vast array of microbrews and wines from mostly Northwest breweries and regional wineries.
Most noticeably, though, in the mid section of the shop are the many fustis – steel drum containers that are branded with intriguing flavor names. The barrels are filled with cold-pressed olive oils and gourmet balsamic vinegars. Oils are infused and labeled with such flavors as blood orange and fresh basil; vinegars with cinnamon pear and chocolate mandarin.
Oils and vinegars are available with their Spice Traders label in 12.5 ounce bottles for $15 and sampler 1.6 ounce bottles for $3.99. Shopkeepers also will create specialty gift boxes.
Coyle and Love look forward to sharing their products. They’re hoping both seasoned and inexperienced cooks will stop in to try something new. Taste testing is kept simple: small plastic cups are on hand for trying oils or vinegars; a sprinkle of a few salt granules can enliven the taste buds, too.
“A good oil – you just sip it,” Love said.
“I love salt,” added Coyle, who notes the good-for-you trace minerals remain in the artisan salts as they have not been overprocessed. Salts range in price from about $6 to $17 for a 1.1 ounce container.