I'll never forget the moment my daughter went from being my shopping sidekick at Parker's Table (7118 Oakland Ave, Richmond Heights; parkerstable.com) to a customer for life in her own right.
It was New Year's Eve, and she was eight years old, tagging along with her mom as we procured provisions from the low-key lunch counter and specialty shop in Richmond Heights: some sparkling wine, an obscene amount of cheese and charcuterie, a container of the citrus-marinated olives that have a cult following, freshly baked ciabatta (because you never leave Parker's Table without its freshly baked ciabatta), more wine, some good rum and mixers. A child who is wise beyond her years about the finer things in life — something I chalk up to her being the daughter of a dining critic, subjected to going to grown-up restaurants since she was five months old — Coretta wanted to join in the celebration with a festive beverage of her own, and would in no way be fooled by the false pomp and circumstance of pouring Honest Kids fruit punch into a wine glass.
Jon Parker had known Coretta for several years by that point; the lunch counter's smoked turkey and gruyere sandwich had been her favorite for almost as long as she could eat solid food. But beyond that, Parker, the shop's owner and resident creative, has such a knack for picking up on what people are looking for you sometimes wonder if he has a sixth sense, and in this particular instance, he knew Coretta was looking for a fun beverage.
Instead of simply directing us to the front of the store where the N/A options were located, he bent down, got to her eye level, and engaged with her as if she was asking for his finest bottle of Bordeaux.
"Do you like more of a citrus flavor or cranberry?" he asked, teasing out the flavor profiles she was searching for like a sommelier at a white-tablecloth restaurant. When she told him she liked a little of both, he asked her to follow him to a display of an alcohol-free beverage brand that came packaged in wine-shaped bottles.
"Now this one here has white tea and ginger, but there is a little elderberry in it too," he explained about the rose version. "This other one is a bit more citrusy. What do you think?"
What she thought was that she wanted the rose version, but more so, she thought she was the most important person in the room, valued and seen in a way kids don't often get the chance to be. She was absolutely beaming, a smile that grew even brighter when he threw a little bag of candy that looks like rocks into our bag "just because."
The thing you have to know about Parker, and pretty much everyone who works at Parker's Table, is that this sort of interaction is not a one-off. Every last person who walks into this lovely Richmond Heights store is treated as if they are a dear friend, not a dollar sign. Parker is a gift — not simply a shopkeeper but a vivid reminder of the value of human connection and just how vital the relational aspect of retail is, something that's missing when you shop at a big-box shop or place an order from an online mega-retailer.
Throughout its 23 years of business, Parker's Table has curated its wares not by algorithm or a data analysis of your shopping history but by taking the time to get to know you, your family and your friends. He and his team — Simon, Steve, Phil, Kim, Frank, Clara, Alessandra — create a community that feels like an extended family.
And you don't have to be a regular for this sort of treatment. It's simply the way they do business and, after experiencing it, the way you wish everyone did business, and the way you hope they will continue to do business for years to come — at least until their eight-year-old rose-buying customers are old enough to take home the real stuff.
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