“We loved the idea of starting a business in the town we live in and adding to the variety of shops that have been sprouting up in Urbana. With all the synergy going on at the time, we thought it was the perfect time to get started,” Wendy said.
“Our business has been successful. Actually this year we had expected to have our best year yet. That is another reason why this is hard,” she added.
The two dreamed of having some sort of business — Jeff started making wine out of their house after he was deployed and Wendy started making soap during COVID. They also loved to travel and always visited local wineries and soap shops.
“We started talking about the idea of opening a winery and soap shop, but we weren’t sure how those two things would go together in one space,” Wendy said.
At the time, downtown Urbana started having “a bit of an uptick” in small businesses, eateries and events, but open store-fronts seemed to be hard to find. That’s when the Hepps saw their current location go up for rent.
“We decided to move on it before we really had a concrete idea of what we were going to do. We brainstormed more and decided a kitchen and bath store made sense and could include wine,” she said.
“We decided on the name ‘Our Kitchen Window’ because we imagined selling all of the things you might see if you were looking into someone’s kitchen window: dishes, soaps, household cleaners, lamps, wine, glassware, spices, soup mixes, candles, etc.”
Now almost three years later, the couple unexpectedly has decided to sell the business.
“I never in a million years saw us selling the business this year. My head is still spinning honestly. I have a lot of mixed emotions about it,” Wendy said. “We are the type of people who will ‘figure it out.’ We make lemonade out of lemons and try to look at the bright side.”
Jeff works in contracting for the federal government and has worked in various branches and departments over the last 14 years. He was working for Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in March 2020 when he started working remotely during the COVID pandemic. Eventually, he applied for a job in Idaho doing remote work to support the Bureau of Land Management there.
“When the new administration made the order for all federal workers to return to the office, we had a discussion and decided we did not want to be that far away from our family and we weren’t really sure of the timeline to return to the office,” Wendy said, explaining Jeff then started applying for jobs in other areas that they were willing to move to.
Jeff’s new job with the Navy to oversee construction projects is in Cape Canaveral, Florida, which is where his parents live. Wendy said he is already in Florida while she focuses on getting the shop sold and putting their house on the market.
“We get to move to a place we love, be closer to my brother and Jeff’s parents, and have quite an adventure moving to someplace new on the coast,” she said. “But at the same time, this really cool thing we have been working our tails off on is going to be over just like that. That stings a lot.”
The business had three potential buyers within three days of putting it up for sale. But the sale is now official and the new owner is Terri Thompson, who is a longtime local of Urbana. Wendy said Thompson will keep the name the same, while bringing her own ideas, but will keep it a winery and kitchen/bath store.
Wendy will run the shop until Thompson takes over May 1. The hours will be the same — 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday.
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