New Owners For Sur LA Table

Final details are being wrapped up for the sale of Sur La Table, a popular kitchen store in the Pike Place Market since 1972.

It is being sold by founders Shirley and Alf Collins to the local Behnke family for an undisclosed price.

Carl and Renee Behnke will operate the store and other parts of the business, which includes a catalog division started in 1992. Other family owners will include Carl's parents Robert and Sally Skinner Behnke. The Skinner family has been active in Seattle business throughout the city's history. The downtown building housing the Fifth Avenue Theater bears its name.

The Behnke family business, R.E.B. Enterprises, is active in venture-capital financing in the region. It has been involved with Skinner Corp. in the now-sold Alpac Corp., a bottling company, and NC Machinery. Renee Behnke has had retail experience with Nordstrom and at the Bon Marche. Carl Behnke will direct financial operations.

Carole Couture, vice president of design and product development with Design Imports India, has been named general manager and will direct catalog operations. Jane O'Neal will remain store manager.

Shirley Collins will stay on as a consultant to the new owners. She said today she wanted to keep the business in the area and worked hard to find a local buyer. A Boston-based catalog firm also was a bidder.

The business, which specializes in upscale kitchen equipment, had sales of $7.2 million last year.

Alf Collins said that with the business's expanding catalog division and a planned expansion into Berkeley, Calif., it needed new capital, but the couple preferred to sell rather than take a partner. He said the Behnkes will open a new store in California by the end of the year.