While my driver’s licence (yes it’s spelled that way here) and one of my passports says Australia, all I have to do is open my mouth and people here say, “What part of the states are you from?  So when I see familiar things from my past I can’t help but get excited.  I love living here and it’s definitely *home* but there ARE times I get homesick.

The only thing I could like better than the news that the Williams-Sonoma family of stores is coming to Sydney would be if they said they were coming to Brisbane next.  I can only hope. Sydney is a several hour plane ride from the Sunshine Coast where I live but Brisbane is only an hour’s drive.  I will definitely consider getting on a plane when the stores open to attend a cooking class.

Seriously, as a food blogging Yank in Oz, it doesn’t get any better than shopping at Williams-Sonoma!

As an American who shopped heaps at Williams-Sonoma and Pottery Barn when I lived in the states, I am really pleased to see them make a step in the right direction -> to Australia.  There are heaps of things Americans do right and these stores do it right.

Some people fight over property, retirement funds, children etc., but when my ex-husband and I split up, the only thing we fought over was my favourite bread pan.  I can hear myself yelling at my attorney, “Tell him to go to Williams-Sonoma and buy himself one.”  His lawyer told my lawyer to tell me the same thing.

As it turned out, I had possession so it was mine to keep.  I still have it and I use it a couple of times a week because it’s the perfect size – long and deep.  There’s something to be said for buying quality items for your kitchen.  I carefully packed my bread pan for its journey to Australia and it arrived in perfect condition.  I don’t know if they still sell a pan in this size but I promise you, if anything happened to my pan I’d scour the world to find another.

So, early in 2013, Williams-Sonoma, Pottery Barn, Pottery Barn Kids and West Elm will open their doors to business at the newly constructed Exchange Building at Bondi Junction in Sydney.  It’s only 6 kilometers from the CBD and it’s adjacent to the Bondi Junction Rail/Bus Interchange.

If you’ve only visited Williams-Sonoma online (which is a pretty terrific experience in my opinion), going into the store is a food lover’s delight.  There are nifty ingredients, clever gadgets and amazing appliances – all top quality.  Yes, it costs more to get the best but the best lasts and becomes a treasured friend.

What has REALLY caught my eye is the new Williams-Sonoma cooking school and professional demonstration kitchen that will offer classes and demos by their culinary staff as well as guest chefs.  Once it opens I think they should invite their favourite food bloggers for a sample cooking class.  It would be great to read the blogs after something like that.

I remember the first Pottery Barn I visited.  I was taking a houseful of teenage boys (only one was mine) to the beach for a week and when we stopped at Pottery Barn I had to make the kids squeeze in so I could get all my packages in the car.  I wasn’t popular but I LOVED that store.

I have been in Australia too long to have any experience with Pottery Barn Kids (first opened 1999) or West Elm (first opened 2002) so I’m really looking forward to my first visit.  I don’t need furnishing for kids but the West Elm store has caught my eye after checking out their website.

Maybe when the stores open, I could fly down and meet all my Sydney food blog friends and we could tour the stores together.  Any Americans who wish to fly over will be more than welcome to join in.

This is NOT a sponsored post but when I heard the news I did write to them and ask if they had any promo photos I could use in this post.  They kindly said yes.  🙂