Le Creuset

Surprisingly great selection, better than expected service, just an excellent experience overall. The staff went the extra mile between cheerfully taking an exchange, helping me spend the amount on the resulting store credit, even packaging things and including an information sheet on the cookware. The products are great (and ooh, colors!!), the store is well organized and pleasant to explore. The sale was the icing on the cake-​I left with a lot more for my money than I expected.

Very helpful and friendly staff. Store has great deals when you hit it right. My wife was very happy to buy 8 settings of dinnerware on sale. Score.

I had been researching and planning for a while to buy a LC french (dutch) oven. But when I got to the outlet store, I realized I wasn’t sure what size I really needed — and was intrigued by the braisers, too. Nina was incredibly patient and knowledgeable — and she was quick to punch up numbers on her calculator to vet pricing (there are both firsts and seconds in the store, and I was there during a 40% sale, and armed with a coupon that couldn’t be combined with the sale offer, so the various permutations were confusing). I saved considerably off of list (it helps if you’re not choosy about colors).

I’ve been coveting a French oven for a long, long time now. Not just any French (Dutch, really, they’re just being snobs about this) oven, but a Le Creuset. The price of these babies, however, have always put me off — $ 300 for a pot! I saw some Le Creuset «seconds» in random colors at about half that price in discount stores like TJ Maxx and Marshalls, so I was curious and googled — people suggested going to the factory store. So after much begging and pleading, the husband finally drove me to the Wrenthem outlets to check out my precious.
The nice sales associate at the store explained that their «second qualities» are because the lid colors are painted a bit too dark. Le Creuset has high standards even for their seconds, and they are still covered by the lifetime warranty. She helped me pick out the perfect, blemish-​free 7.25 qt flame oven.
Here’s the breakdown: MSRP of $ 400, typically online for sale at ~$ 300, listed for sale for $ 245 at the store as a «second», with a 35% off holiday sale (they seem to have sales often) = ~$ 160 pre tax. Still expensive for a pot, but it’s a beautiful, beautiful piece. I’m already saving money for my next one!

Thanks to this outlet store, my dream of owning the shiny red 7.5 quart Le Creuset dutch oven was finally realized this weekend due to a memorial day sale that only took $ 150 out of my pocket.
I’ve been stalking this dutch oven for years but amazon, william sonoma, BBB, and all of the other stores slapped a $ 280 price tag on it… always setting me back. I mean $ 280 for something I actually could live without? I just couldn’t do it. I knew my day would come.
One hundred and fifty dollars. That’s almost 50% off for the exact same dutch oven found everywhere else.
The store itself is full of eye candy and we spent almost an hour talking to the employees about all of the products. They were more than helpful and explained all we needed to know about cooking and cleaning our new babies.
My mom was with me and she bought a 6 quart risotto pan (marked down from $ 275 to $ 150 due to discontinuation of the black color) and then she ended up buying me a ton of extra goodies to match the dutch oven (cherry red utensil holders, a trivet, wooden spoons and spatulas, and a spoon rest… thanks mom!!).
I walked out of here like a kid that robbed the candy store.
Thank you Le Creuset! I finally feel like a real grown-​up now!

I’ve HEARD that all the cool chefs use Le Creuset, famous for its cast iron and stoneware. I have a complex about having to be cool. I also have a complex about having to be cheap.
In regards to complex #1: the adorable tiny pots of whimsical shapes, such as apple and squash and tomato, and bright uplifting colors, such as lime green, electric blue and classic red, are enough to make your cookie crumble. The cast iron cookware looks orgasmic, but I was put off by the label «second quality,» what IS that? Seems NOT cool.
In regards to complex #2: the price tag? goodness. 1 dutch oven will put you out for the same price as a good massage. Skillets are up around the massage, facial, and happy ending mark. The cute little crocks, usable for god knows what kind of esoteric cookery, run around the same as a visit to a primary care doctor — happy ending not guaranteed.
Ok, but in order to satisfy both complexes, I bought 4 7.25 ounce ramekins. Price of a drive by bikini wax. Now I too have something from Le Creuset.
I’ll go back for my happy ending when my kitchen gets more sophisticated and my wallet gets more… well… fat.