It was a man’s world when Janet Lilly started working at Garth’s Electric 41 years ago.
People invariably overlooked her for another member of staff because she was a young woman – even though she helped run the business with her husband Garth.
That doesn’t happen much anymore.
As the owner of Our Kitchen Corner and Club Cannabis, Lilly has found its niche as a local business owner – and one to be reckoned with. She is currently finalizing details for two more Club Cannabis operations, in Cache Creek and North Kamloops.
“I believe with our city, if people are ambitious and want to try to get out of their comfort zone, there’s a lot they can do,” Lilly said. “They just have to think outside the box.”
She is about to do the same herself. His daughter, who works for Lilly remotely, recently set up a website and online sales for Our Kitchen Corner Boutique, to help breathe new life into the bricks and mortar business, which opened in Birch Avenue in 2015. As part of online sales, the two women plan to launch kitchen subscription boxes at Christmas, eventually offering them four times a year.
The boxes are said to contain items for “young and old” – children and adults – and contain items such as fun kitchen gadgets and matching aprons.
“That’s pretty cool,” Lilly said, noting that she’s already signed up for subscription boxes that include chocolates, wine and the Carnivore Club’s pepperoni and beef jerky. “I love this whole concept. I think you have to keep moving forward because even with physical stores, people are going online.
She hopes the boxes will help boost sales at the kitchen store, which has been affected by years of wildfires and the COVID-19 pandemic. At the same time, she is busy building her cannabis business.
It took her a year and a half to decide whether to open Club Cannabis in 2020, she said, noting that she had been criticized by some who had gone so far as to boycott her cooking shop. “Some people said to me, ‘I can’t believe you did this. You are a grandma,” Lilly said.
But she has no regrets, saying “I believe in legal pot, really. They take the criminal element out of it, take the taxes out.
She noted that there are plenty of people in town who not only want cannabis, but CBD oils to help with pain relief. A woman uses a CBD cream to relieve her shingles.
“You get all these ladies in there, say, in my age demographic, and they’re still buying for a friend,” she laughed. “Overall, I think it’s really good and I like the idea.
“One thing about government stores – it’s almost like designer pot these days.”
Lilly maintains that she is so busy that she may have to leave Garth’s Electric. In addition to running her businesses, she recently became a member of the Chamber of Commerce and is involved in community initiatives such as the Santa Claus Parade.
“I tried to be really community-minded,” she said, adding that she was thrilled to see more people moving into town and opening businesses. “I hope people will continue to buy local. We can’t just buy from Amazon because all the small towns are going to close.
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