Margaretville native Jessica Olenych, together with husband, Jake, owns and operates a kitchen store with something more.
Olenych said the shop, Kitchen Cheetah, at 784 Main St. in Margaretville, inspired by her work helping people in the community, has evolved during her 11-year entrepreneurship.
“I grew up in Margaretville and went to college in Elmira, then came back and worked at a local nonprofit, teaching New York City kids where their water comes from for about 12 years,” she said. “Then, in 2011, Hurricane Irene hit our town pretty badly and I became a volunteer firefighter and a relief coordinator. At that point, the woman who had previously owned my store was looking to retire, so, in 2014, I bought the store from her and moved it across the street. In the past 11 years, we have made it our own — changed the name, changed the inventory.
“I’m still a volunteer firefighter and I grew up in the kitchen,” Olenych continued, saying she has worked in “tons” of local restaurants. “So, it just sort of made sense for me to buy a kitchen store and, in the past 11 years, but especially during the pandemic, we really became an emergency response. From my point of view, it was, ‘How can I feed myself and my family and my community with one grocery store within 30 miles?’ So, we morphed and brought in all sorts of stuff.”
Today, Olenych said, the Kitchen Cheetah’s stock reflects that adaptability.
“We have meats and cheeses and baked goods, but lots of international sweets and cheeses from all over the world,” she said. “This year, we actually added a kitchen, so we can start doing our own baking and prepared meals, which we’re still working on. And this year, for Christmas, we have this European Christmas market happening, where we built all these little huts and it’s really beautiful and really working.
“It’s really pretty amazing,” Olenych continued. “We have stuff form all over the world and local stuff as well — maple syrup and pancake mix — and, this weekend, we’re doing a pop-up, where our Italian importer is coming and doing olive oil and balsamic (vinegar) and coffee and panettone and all sorts of wonderful things.”
Olenych said a “grab-‘n’-go style cooler with prepared foods” will “hopefully be up and running in the next month or so” and will include “easy, delicious, healthy, made-from-scratch meals.”
With such eclectic and specialty offerings, Olenych said, the Kitchen Cheetah has become known for having hard-to-find ingredients.
“Everything from great soy sauce to baking items and, this year, people are really responding to everything,” she said. “I keep telling everyone, ‘We’re doing joy this season,’ because the world is so hard right now so, if our little retail shop on the corner in Margaretville can bring some joy, then that’s our job to try to make that happen.”
Olenych said the shop’s clientele is similarly varied.
“It’s pretty 50/50 between locals and tourist, second homeowner types,” she said. “It’s a little bit of everything, honestly, because we have so many different categories. I also have frying pans and bakeware and gadgets, so it opens up our demographic a bit, because everybody needs to replace their spatula sometimes.”
And positive feedback, Olenych said, has long been a hallmark of the shop.
“Oh, my god, people love our store,” she said. “We’re literally on the corner and our building is the former bank building, so there’s a 113-year-old vault in the middle of the store and it’s just really special. We bought the building last year, so I would say, I like being part of the community’s history. I grew up here, I love this community, I enjoy being a part of it and owning a Main Street business and being a staple and just helping people discover food from all over the world.”
The Kitchen Cheetah is open from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., Monday through Friday, 10 to 6 Saturday and 11 to 5 Sunday.
For more information, follow @thekitchencheetah on Instagram or find “The Kitchen Cheetah” on Facebook.