New Millette's Kitchen Store owners Ginger, left, and Jake Aguirre stand next to 27-year owners Pat and Rollo Millette. After almost three decades in Central Oregon, the boutique kitchen store is changing hands from one married couple to another.

In early February, Bend residents Jake and Ginger Aguirre strolled into Millette’s Kitchen Store on Northwest Newport Avenue in Bend looking for a teapot – three months later, they would own the longtime Central Oregon shop.

Ginger Aguirre, 53, remembers asking owners Pat and Rollo Millette why they were selling. The answer was simple.

”I said, ‘What would you do if you’re 78?’” Rollo Millette recalled.

That set the wheels in motion, and Aguirre couldn’t sleep for three nights, pondering buying a business that meets her and her husband’s wish to work together and in the culinary world they love.

Friday is the first day that the Aguirres assume ownership of the store that the Millettes have owned for 27 years – 22 of which were at the Sunriver Village Mall. The boutique kitchen store stocks a variety of kitchen and dining ware, including Le Creuset cookware and Jura Capresso machines that can top $3,000. Every customer is greeted with a Millette smile and offered a cup of gourmet coffee or a cappuccino from the shop espresso maker, with a dusting of sweeteners, if desired.

Those personal touches aren’t expected to change in the first year, the Aguirres say, and the Millettes will stick around for a few months to help train them.

For the past and present owners, the changing of hands made sense.

”We wanted a husband-wife team,” Pat Millette said. ”They are the same age we were when we started the business.”

Like the Millettes, the Aguirres enjoy cooking and entertaining. But the couple, who moved here in January from Los Angeles, have no culinary or business-ownership experience. Both Jake, 40, and Ginger worked for telecommunications companies in Southern California and moved to Bend for the same reason other big-city transplants appreciate the region: blue sky, clean air and natural beauty.

In the next few years, Jake Aguirre hopes to take cooking classes and consider offering cooking demonstrations through the store – but in a different space because the shop is stocked full of merchandise.

The Aguirres also expect to expand some of the product lines, add Internet access, cable television and an updated computer and automation system.

”We want to make it our own,” Jake Aguirre said. ”But folks know (the Millette) name in town.”

That’s why the business name may not change, he said.

The Millettes say other things that won’t change include their competitive pricing, no handling fees for shipping, free gift-wrapping with tie bows, wedding registries, gift certificates and a promise to be ”the friendliest store in town.”

”We (knew) enough not to make changes over the years,” Pat Millette said.

”We’ve seen too many businesses change things,” Rollo Millette added. ”Customers don’t like it when you make changes.”

The Millettes moved to Bend in 1980 from Lake Oswego. Neither had any kitchen-store experience, but they both loved shopping in boutique kitchen stores. And, like the Aguirres, they always wanted to work together.

”The Lord sent us here,” Pat Millette said of their decision to open the shop.

Ever since they opened in Sunriver, the store’s sales have topped the previous year, Rollo Millette said. And when they moved the store from Sunriver to Bend – saying the Bend location suited them better – sales more than doubled.

Now that they’ve sold the store for an undisclosed price, the Millettes plan to take a Western United States road trip and enjoy their retirement.

”It feels strange,” Rollo Millette said.

”If feels good,” Pat Millette said. ”We’ll just be playing it one day at a time.”

Since they started, the Millettes have contributed to the Central Oregon community through charity events and nonprofit groups. Jake Aguirre wants to emphasize how involved the Millettes are and how their business has become a community staple with a reputation he intends to keep.

”I think there’s a little bit of Bend history there that shouldn’t be overlooked as they’re stepping into retirement,” he said.