Kevin A. Roberts
If Gulliver were a chef, Meridian Supply Restaurant Depot (9950 Page, 314-423-2727, meridianrs.com) is where he might shop. The shelves are lined with 22-quart measuring cups, giant oven mitts, large colanders, and salad bowls nearly big enough to sail away in. Every last culinary need is covered for home cooks and restaurateurs alike.
Meridian stocks rubber kitchen matting ($29 for a 3- by 5-foot mat), MOZO chef’s clogs ($70 to $110), pizza peels ($11 to $64), red and yellow tips for ketchup and mustard bottles (75 cents each), walk-in coolers ($30,000) available by order… A 12-ounce ladle for about $4.50 and an 8-inch wire whisk for a dollar more are sturdy—if not indestructible
.Owner Tim Miller stocks products that are built to last. “I don’t want my customers to haveto replace things,” he says. “I want them totrust me.”
He started out selling toilet paper, towels, and trash bags out of his mother’s Kirkwood garage. “I figured everybody needed those things,” he says. Since 1992, the business has steadily grown, supplying customers with essentials. Today, Miller does that and more from his warehouse on Page Avenue.
Miller insists that Meridian is one of the cheapest places in town. Many items are 40 percent off list price. A colorful 24-piece set of china is $39, and a potato masher the length of a man’s arm is about $18.
Asked about the number of items that are available for purchase in his warehouse, Miller doesn’t miss a beat: “5,620,” he says. Gulliver would be impressed.
