Penzeys Spices

American spice retailer

Penzeys, Ltd.Company type| Private

|

Founded| 1986
(39 years ago) (1986)
Founder| William T. Penzey Jr.
Headquarters|

Wauwatosa, Wisconsin

U.S.

Number of locations

| 49
Services| Spice retailer
Website| www.penzeys.com
Store location in Arlington, Massachusetts

Penzeys Spices is a retailer of spices in the United States. It operates retail outlets as well as mail order and online shopping.[1] The company is headquartered in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin, and had 600,000 catalog customers in 2007.[2]

## History

[edit]

In 1957, William Penzey Sr. and Ruth Ann Penzey opened a coffee and spice business in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, which came to be called The Spice House.[3] Their son, William Penzey Jr. (Bill), began working in the business as a youth. Over time, The Spice House focused on selling spices.[4]

In 1986, at the age of 22, Bill launched a catalog business of his own.[5] The business grew steadily, and in 1994, Penzeys opened its first retail store. By 2013, 69 Penzeys stores were open throughout North America.[6]

### Retail contraction

[edit]

In 2012, Penzeys had 67 retail locations in 29 states.[7] In March 2020, it announced closures due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[8] By June 2021, the number of Penzeys locations had contracted to 53.[9]

### Political involvement

[edit]

Penzeys Spices is known for promoting a liberal perspective and has an "About Republicans" page on the company website that describes the party's politics as "nonsense."[10]

On January 14, 2022, CEO Bill Penzey sent out an email newsletter announcing that he would be renaming the extended Martin Luther King Jr. Day sale weekend to "Republicans are racist weekend", with the reasons given including alleged voter suppression in red states and their response to the George Floyd protests.[11] Penzey was widely criticized for the email, with 40,000 people unsubscribing from their newsletter. Penzey, however, stated that 30,000 new people had signed up to the newsletter.[12]

Penzey made a similar statement in an email sent out on the first anniversary of the January 6 US Capitol attack, calling Republicans the "#1 threat to this country".[13]

The company has received criticism from Jewish customers and advocacy groups for its posts critical of Israel following the October 7 Hamas-led attack on Israel and a joke following the attacks about pretending to hide Jews in attics.[14][15]

In 2024, presidential candidate Kamala Harris visited the Pittsburgh location, which garnered negative attention from Republicans.[10]

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "Penzeys Spices Retail Stores". Penzeys Spices. 2012-05-25. Archived from the original on 2012-05-14. Retrieved 2012-05-25.
2. ^ "Penzeys to open more retail stores in 2010". BizJournals.com. Retrieved 2012-05-05.
3. ^ "Penzey spiced up customers' lives". JSOnline.com. Retrieved May 5, 2012.
4. ^ "Penzeys Spices, Inc. Company Profile". ReferenceForBusiness.com. Retrieved May 5, 2012.
5. ^ "A life of spice". Forbes. Archived from the original on May 12, 2011. Retrieved May 5, 2012.
6. ^ Penzey, Bill (2008). How We Became One. Kitchen Table Communications. ISBN 978-0982054802.Penzey, Bill; Penzeys One Staff (2008). How We Became One. Kitchen Table Communications, 2008.
7. ^ "Penzeys Spices Retail Stores". Penzeys Spices. 2012-05-25. Archived from the original on 2012-05-14. Retrieved 2012-05-25.
8. ^ "Penzeys Spices, Great Dane and Vintage brewing closed in response to COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic". 17 March 2020. Retrieved 2021-11-12.
9. ^ "Locations". Penzeys Spices. Retrieved 6 December 2020.
10. ^ a b Levenson, Michael. "Kamala Harris Visited a Spice Shop. Her Critics Flooded Yelp With Bad Reviews". New York Times. Retrieved 7 October 2024.
11. ^ Calvi, Jason (2022-01-15). "Penzeys Spices calls Republicans 'racists' in email to customers". Fox6 Milwaukee. Archived from the original on 2022-01-27. Retrieved 2022-02-01.
12. ^ Brown, Jon (30 January 2022). "Spice company that called Republicans racist begs for gift card purchases after losing customers". Fox Business. Archived from the original on 2022-01-31. Retrieved 2022-02-01.
13. ^ Dumas, Breck (2022-01-06). "Penzeys Spices CEO calls Republican voters '#1 threat to this country' in Jan 6 promotional email". Fox Business. Archived from the original on 2022-01-31. Retrieved 2022-02-01.
14. ^ Preiszig, Abigail. "Penzeys Spices comments about Israel irks customer", Cleveland Jewish News. October 16, 2024. Retrieved April 24, 2025.
15. ^ "Penzeys Spices", StopDon'tShop. Retrieved April 24, 2025.

## Bibliography

[edit]

* Penzey, Bill; Penzeys One Staff (2008). How We Became One. Kitchen Table Communications, 2008.

## External links

[edit]

* Official website

Authority control databases

International|

* VIAF

National|

* United States