Pottery Barn and Friends Come to Town

Apparently, Australia is a great place to invest.  A stable and vibrant economy, in the quickest growing region in the world, Asia.  I am reliably informed, it is no longer a maybe, but a must for companies when considering global growth.  When Pottery Barn started shipping to Australia during the Global Financial Crisis, we Aussies bit.  We bit big time, causing the powers that be to take notice and accordingly, decide to set up shop Down Under.  All I can say is a big big thank you to the retail Gods, for choosing Sydney to throw open the doors to these amazing lifestyle stores.  

Barn Doors are a signature accent in Pottery Barn stores

And so it was, that Sydney's media glitterati (and although I was there, I consider myself more of a people watcher than media glitterati) gathered for dinner and a pre view tour  of the Williams Sonoma suite of stores,  Pottery Barn, Pottery Barn Kids, West Elm and Williams Sonoma, prior to their official opening today.

I have to say Pottery Barn was my absolute favourite and it was very hard to choose between the four.  The Yanks invented retail and they do it  like no body else on the planet, with such style and finesse.  Going into each and every one of the stores was absolute sensory overload for me.   I couldn't get enough of it.   Looking back now, I will have to go again and again to really take it all in.

Service is absolutely paramount and as evidence of that, the Pottery Barn designers will travel within an hours radius of Sydney to do a design consult in your home free of charge.  Now that is service!!!! Yes????

It was like shopping in America and I am so glad we no longer need to fly across the Pacific Ocean for 14 hours to have that experience anymore.  All you need to do is front up to the corner of Oxford Street Mall and Grosvenor Street Bondi Junction.  Park in Westfield and walk across the road and you are there in homewares heaven.

I need a mentor like this man

Our gorgeous guide Tom was one of the visual merchandisers....read stylists.  They had worked very hard to pull it all together.  So hard in fact that although the stores are in Bondi Junction, poor Tom had not yet been to Bondi Beach, just five minutes down the hill.  He promised me at the end of the night, after several glasses of fabulous red, that he would go there, just for me, sweet and lovely man that he was. 

I particularly loved this blue and white table for its coastal vibe.

and I think those little lanterns on the table in the back of this shot were only $15 each

Customers will be treated to refreshments whilst they shop.  My question was whether it included vodka.  'No' was the answer. But this is just another touch, which makes the whole experience add up to such a pleasurable one.

I think this was where the A list Media editors were going to be shmoozed for dinner by the WS execs.  It was a beautifully laid table, complete with magnolia leaf centrepiece.  Although this was set up in in the West Elm store, those chairs are PB and apparently come in many colours.

Our dinner affair was a fabulously casual one, where we got to rub shoulders with peeps like the lovely Maggie Beer and some big name designers, who are apparently the ants pants, but whom I had never heard of.  I had better do some homework there.

 There was subtle music.

The most exquisite cheese platter I've ever encountered

And this incredible polenta and mushroom dish.  What a way to serve a crowd.  Unfortunately I was too into it to shoot dessert, but that was a stunning creamy, boozy, berry affair, the likes of which I had never tasted either.  And that to me sums up the whole experience last night......it was different, it was cutting edge and it was fabulous.  I left wanting more, which I guess was the whole idea.  The magic worked on me and I bet it will work on you too.

Next up my take on the three other stores

Williams Sonoma

Pottery Barn Kids

and

West Elm.

Bliss

Oh and if you haven't yet entered my Jamie Oliver Phillips  Home Cooker giveaway you can do so here.

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My Romantic Home
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Transformation Thursday
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