Apron Strings owner to close her store in Delano | The Wichita Eagle

Two years after opening, Apron Strings in Delano is closing.

“We’re moving it back to Hutch,” says owner Anne Dowell.

She says business has “been OK.”

“It’s just been a lot more work than I anticipated going back and forth,” Dowell says.

Dowell says she expected some additional work, but she says she didn’t expect her workload to triple.

“I just need to not put so many miles on my car and my body.”

Dowell says there’s much more competition in Wichita than in Hutchinson.

“Wichita’s a different animal.”

She says she needed a demonstration kitchen and classroom to make the store work better, but there wasn’t room in the store’s 3,000 square feet at 810 W. Douglas.

The store is having some sales before its last day in business on Saturday.

“A lot of the inventory will just be absorbed back in our Hutchinson store,” Dowell says.

She says the Hutchinson store is “going strong.”

Dowell doubts she’ll open another Wichita store at any point, but she won’t entirely rule it out.

“I’m like the eternal optimist.

She can’t think about that now, though.

“At this point, I’m tired.”