Jade Kammergruber, CEO of Provincial Home Living, chats to us about the gorgeous story behind the LABEL
As a fellow working mother, Jade Kammergruber and I immediately understood each other’s challenges in running a business while supervising online-learning during lockdown. Trying to set up a Zoom meeting in between classroom meets and the constant demands of kids is always tricky and so, as two women juggling and wearing mum, professional and schoolteacher hats simultaneously, we did the sensible thing and scheduled our chat for a Saturday morning. Kids sorted, (mine still sleeping, Jade’s are a bit younger and happy to amuse themselves), cups of tea in hand, we had time for a leisurely conversation instead of the usual weekday need for swift efficiency. Conversations outside of ‘traditional’ office hours somehow seem more relaxed; we talked work, kids, books, lockdown and, naturally, the Provincial Home Living story and the recent opening of their gateway to the Yarra Valley store in Chirnside Park.
Provincial Home Living is a well-known and much-loved brand and a genuine family business with humble beginnings. There is an obvious passion for the brand they have created. Jade says, “It’s a beautiful story because we’ve been a family business right from the very beginning. The story began over twenty years ago when the family purchased the Co-Op in Wangaratta. My first job as a thirteen-year-old was in a toy shop at the Co-Op, and by complete coincidence this shop would become the birthplace of the Provincial we know today. To fill a lease vacancy, we took the site and put together a Manchester and homewares store to balance the retail mix, never did we dream then what would come from that initial step.”
To read the full article, pick up a copy of #48 Summer 2021 here
