Gourmet Food at Williams-Sonoma

[SethG]

I haven't checked out the Williams-Sonoma catalog in quite a long time, and when I looked at a new one I was surprised at the number of actual food items for sale. Then I saw the prices! The outrageous, criminal prices. I can understand paying retail for quality cookware, I guess, and I suppose people care less about the value when they're buying wedding gifts, but how can you offer with a straight face:

2.5 lbs. of parmesan for $49?

a 26 oz. jar of spaghetti sauce for $8.50?

12 frozen sticky buns for $38?

three pounds of bacon for $39.50?

12 marshmallows for $17.50? (?????!!!!)

A box of cake mix for $14.00?

It's a joke, right? They can't possibly make money off these items; they're just window dressing for their lifestyle image, right? Do you think anyone buys them?

[Marlene]

Ah but it's not your ordinary cake mix It boasts:

using Guitard's artisanal cocoa, Neilsen-Massey vanilla and Belgian chocolate chips. Inside the box is the cake mix, the sugar package and a small package of cocoa to dust your pan with. In addition to the box of stuff, the recipe calls for you to add: 250 gms butter (2 sticks), 4 eggs and 1 1/2 cups of milk.

How do I know this? I'm not telling..

[Katherine]

I'm in the wrong business.

[Cusina]

I was in their store today and I did buy a molten center chocolate cake mix as a gift. It was $20, but awfully purty. This nice round chocolate brown box with lovely wedding style red script.

Wait, I paid $20 for a cake mix?? Dang, I'm such a sucker.

[fifi]

I have bought this stuff before. It is perfect for gifts when you don't want to saddle someone with a stupid gift that they will have to remember to drag out when you come over. I just set my target for what I want to spend and I don't really care if it is a "good value" or not. Like Cusina says, it's purty, and it doesn't have to be dusted or coordinate with the colors and style of their decor. Plus I can order and send it with a click of the mouse.

[jhlurie]

I can buy that logic to some extent, fifi, but 12 marshmallows for $17.50... that's pushing the borders of insanity.

[Carolyn Tillie]

Yeah, I got into a fight with one of my co-workers who took it upon herself to order the Scottish Smoked Salmon for the boss as a Christmas gift and THEN asked everyone to kick-in.

$65.00 for a salmon slab that was little over a pound.

I proceded to show her a series of websites that offered the same product at a fraction of the price...

[tommy]

people who shop at WS generally aren't all that concerned with price.

[chickenlady]

While I do think there are more frugal places to buy food/cooking items than Williams-Sonoma, I have to say that, depending on the quality/age of the Parmesan, $19.60 per pound doesn't seem that outrageous. We sell a lovely 48+ month for $24 per pound and we sell a lot because it is fabulous! We also carry several pasta sauces in that price range or more.

[Richard Kilgore]

jhlurie -- nope, you absolutely must choose the marshmallows! Ha!

I watch the sales at the W-S shops. Often great deals that make fine gifts. Eg. large, colorful tin of biscotti for $4.

[Kim WB]

I think the foods are mostly designed to be 'add-ons" to a gift. When a bride registers, I like to pick out something from her list, and then add on potholders, dishtowels, or lately a food product.

My husband has a lot of employees, and a lot of weddings every year..last year we had 18 employee weddings and showers. ( I just counted for tax purposes!) And, its important to spend a smiliar amount on each person for office politics. Some high end bakeware on their list, supplemented with some of the cake mixes or LC baking dish with some of the demi glace...easy, done, and they wrap it.

It's packeaged nicely, makes a nice gift, and they can return it easily if there are problems or duplicates.

[tommy]

kim mentions returns, which i think WS is excellent at handling. you can return just about anything at any time. i've told the tale of my toaster (or was it deep fryer?). i asked the salesperson if i could return it if it didn't work as well as i thought it should, and she stated that i could return anything at any time. she said that they've had people come in a year later with an old frying pan that was all messy and they accept the return and i suppose give you a new one or issue a store credit. that sure beats trying to keep you all-clad clean.

Edited January 28, 2004 by tommy (log)

[fifi]

I have to admit that the marshmallows are a bit over the top. They would make some really pricey S'Mores.

[Richard Kilgore]

W-S is the best about returns. Last year I turned in some wrecked 20 year-old Calphalon, which they accepted despite obvious signs of dishwasher damage in addition to more or less regular damage. They gave me my choice of replacement pieces or store credit. I took the credit.

[Moopheus]

If memory serves me right, at the City Bakery (in NY) they sell homemade marshmallows for $6 for 12. So $17 does seem a bit of a premium to pay for the convenience of mail order.

I like the Williams-Sonoma catalog. It gives me ideas for things to buy at other shops.

[Pan]

While I do think there are more frugal places to buy food/cooking items than Williams-Sonoma, I have to say that, depending on the quality/age of the Parmesan, $19.60 per pound doesn't seem that outrageous. We sell a lovely 48+ month for $24 per pound and we sell a lot because it is fabulous! We also carry several pasta sauces in that price range or more.

I find that amazing! Just out of curiosity, where are you located?

I could never imagine paying ~$20/lb for parmeggiano. Well, not until inflation makes today's money that valueless.

[Dave the Cook]

I find that amazing! Just out of curiosity, where are you located?

I could never imagine paying ~$20/lb for parmeggiano. Well, not until inflation makes today's money that valueless.

PR is $14.99/pound at my local (chain) grocery store in Atlanta.

[Pan]

A little pricey, but still less than $20.

I'm used to paying over $10 for good quality parmiggiano, but not $20.

[Dave the Cook]

Right. I was just throwing a number out for comparison purposes.

[hwilson41]

A little pricey, but still less than $20.

I'm used to paying over $10 for good quality parmiggiano, but not $20.

Pan; Dunno where you are, but at the Whole Foods in Annandale (northern VA), I think you'll pay a lot closer to $20 than to $10 for parmreg (doing this from memory, but I recall that I always do a double take - and then pay the price anyway ). Maybe I should look around for a cheaper supplier.

THW

Edited to remove dumb grammar.

Edited January 28, 2004 by hwilson41 (log)

[Kim WB]

W-S is the best about returns. Last year I turned in some wrecked 20 year-old Calphalon, which they accepted despite obvious signs of dishwasher damage in addition to more or less regular damage. They gave me my choice of replacement pieces or store credit. I took the credit.

You returned 20 year old Claphalon!!??? Did you buy it there?

Edited January 28, 2004 by Kim WB (log)

[Suzanne F]

SethG: they sure as hell make money on that stuff, tons of money.

I used to work for a company that supplied some items for their Xmas catalogue. We went through months and months of product development for them (as far as I know, without any compensation), and they paid us a fraction of what the catalogue cost was.

[Pan]

A little pricey, but still less than $20.

I'm used to paying over $10 for good quality parmiggiano, but not $20.

Pan; Dunno where you are

New York. I think the highest price I can remember seeing for parmiggiano is $16.99/lb. Sure, that's closer to $20 than $10, but it's also the highest price I can remember seeing, and somehow $20 is a psychological barrier, I guess.

[Richard Kilgore]

Kim - No. Who would have receipts after 20 years anyway? W-S is the best in my experience. If they stocked it at any point in time, they will take it in and give credit for the last price the item sold for...or they did last year. So if is a discontinued item that they sold off cheap, you will only get that much credit.

Actually, it did not occur to me to do this, until some one in these very forums suggested it. I had forgotten about the lifetime guarantee. So I took back a couple of pieces to see what they would say. They took them, so the next day I stuffed two or three large bags with old Calphalon and took that in also. No problem. As I recall I ended up with a couple of pices of All-Clad, a set of pasta bowls, and a 13 1/2 qt Italian hammered copper/tin-linned stock pot w/lid. Fine with me. I just filled in a few missing pieces with inexpensive ChefMate at Target.

[Kim WB]

deleted, off topic, sorry.

Edited January 29, 2004 by Kim WB (log)