"We are always looking for new ways to expand and attract more people to the store," says Humphries, who bought the store with husband Glenn in March 2003 from Arien and Els Groos.

Even so, the signature shop at 2696 S. Highland Drive and its top-drawer delicacies already are a top draw. The Dutch expatriates who have shopped the store for Dutch treats since its 1978 opening still drop by. But so do expatriates from Norway, Germany and Sweden, as do many returned LDS Church missionaries who served in Europe.

"It's where I go when I'm missing my mission," says Marc Sargent, who did his LDS missionary stint in the Netherlands back in the mid-1980s.

And why not? The store carries more than 5,000 products. Some come to give Dutch windmill cookies (speculaas) a whirl. Others troop in for stroopwafels, thin round wafers with caramel inside. German-philes are sweet on sauerkraut, red cabbage and Lindt or Ritter chocolate bars. Swedes stroll in for Lakerol lemon lozenges or Marabou chocolate. Finns file in for a log of Lappi cheese. Norwegians go for the Ekte Gjetost (goat cheese).

There also are Delft blue china, dolls and calendars from Holland. European recipe books are part of the store's mix for minglers. So are perfumes, key chains, decorative tiles, souvenir windmills and illustrated children's dictionaries in a variety of languages, among other items.

For some, the store's soul is its soles: wooden shoes. And what the shop doesn't carry, its owners willingly go the extra 5,000 miles to get.

"We really try to meet customers' requests," marketing director Jim Hammons says. "Usually it isn't a matter of if, but how quickly we can get items."

Most European continental confections come via importers in California and New Jersey. So do the Gouda, Edam and other cheeses. Same goes for herring, mackerel and eel. Old Dutch's meats are domestic, but Humphries' dad, 76-year-old Peter Van Schelt, spices them up.

"He's got the magic recipe for bratwurst," Hammons says.

Van Schelt, a fixture behind the store's deli counter, has a following. Customers have followed him wherever he has gone - from Miller's Meats to Siegfried's Delicatessen to the Old Dutch Store. When it comes to dishing up sandwiches or small talk, he doesn't skimp.

Hammons, who also served an LDS mission in Holland, recalls taking a date to the store last August.

"Peter asked me in Dutch, 'Are you going to marry that girl?' He saw that we looked good together. We were married in December. So Peter was a bit prescient."

Besides great conversation and bratwurst, Van Schelt makes German Thuringer sausage and (Fleischsalat) meat salad.

"Dad tried to teach us how to make them, but it's all up here in his head," Humphries laments. "It's a secret."

Not the store, though. That secret is out. The spot is especially hot during the holidays - for St. Nicholas Day on Dec. 6, when hundreds of parents and children stop by to see Sinterklaas (or St. Nicolaas) and his helper, Zwarte Piet (Black Pete).

The store's Web site is a popular Internet hangout for those wanting to order from home. Humphries also takes some store items on the road each April for the Tulip Festival at Thanksgiving Point in Lehi. The possibility of opening a second store somewhere also is being considered. Hammons says he and Humphries aren't sure how far to take the Old Dutch Store.