With the opening of the Shoppe at Southern Kitchen in mid-August, the online destination dedicated to delivering a blended experience of content and commerce is ready to step into the holiday season with a fully operational store. Coupled with original recipes and compelling stories of the American South, the Shoppe at Southern Kitchen breathes new life into the online shopping experience.

"Shopping used to be fun, but online shopping has become too transactional. We want to make shopping fun," said Sean Pruett, Chief Merchant at Southern Kitchen. "People used to know and trust the person from whom they bought their goods. My sincere hope is that when you choose to shop with Southern Kitchen, we bring a little bit of that fun and personal connection back."

The Shoppe at Southern Kitchen features a variety of goods from well-known national brands and small niche brands, as well as artisans and makers from around the South. Shoppers will be delighted to find cookware, entertaining items, glassware, bar tools, cutlery and more, alongside the compelling stories of the brands and makers creating the goods.

"There's something so organic about reading or watching the story of a maker, and having the ability to buy one of their products in the same place," said Southern Kitchen's Editor-in-Chief, Ashley Twist Cole. "We want to make an emotional connection with our readers, and the brands that our merchandising team is working with have amazing stories already. It really makes [the editorial] team's job easy."

In addition to maker and brand stories, Southern Kitchen boasts a robust Southern recipe database, curated and updated by the professional chefs on staff. Readers will find cooking tips and cocktail techniques, as well as profiles and narratives on the people, chefs and tastemakers influencing the South.

Everything Southern has a story, and many of those stories take place around the kitchen — whether that's the actual kitchen, the porch or the backyard. Southern Kitchen pairs those stories with hand-selected kitchen goods for the home chef, mixologist and host. Sean's promise is that "whatever the brand, you can feel safe knowing that our team has either met the people making the product, or put the product in our hands and used it. If we don't love it, we won't sell it."