At Philly’s Le Creuset factory sale, hundreds of ‘potheads’ gather from all over the country
The Potheads were there for what one organizer described as “their Super Bowl” — the company’s largest-ever “Factory to Table Sale,” a bonanza of 100,000 pieces of discounted and rare cookware.
They call themselves the “Potheads,” the most devoted collectors of the coveted, colorful French cookware made by Le Creuset, and on Thursday morning, before dawn, hundreds of them began to line up outside a cavernous convention center in Montgomery County.
The Potheads were there for what one organizer described as “their Super Bowl” — the company’s largest-ever “Factory to Table Sale,” a bonanza of 100,000 pieces of discounted cookware in rare and hard-to-find colors.
“There’s so much product, so much selection and then all the discounts,” said Cody Stockton, a retail marketing specialist for Le Creuset, as shoppers waited for the doors to open at the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center in Oaks. “There are pieces that are never on sale that are on sale.”
For the uninitiated, Le Creuset is perhaps one of the most famous cooking brands in the world, and their distinctive enameled, cast iron pots, in eye-catching colors, are the ultimate status symbol for the home cook.
But for the Potheads, the draw of Le Creuset goes beyond the products’ durability, their distinctive design, and their reputation as excellent cookware. These collectors own more Le Creuset than they could possibly ever use in the kitchen. Le Creuset is a hobby, like collecting superhero figurines or baseball cards. Except the Potheads wear “Potheads” friendship bracelets and pins with pictures of colored pots to show what products they’d be willing to entertain in a trade. They hold pot swaps in the parking lot, in an area they dub “Le Creuchella.”
Those in line on Thursday were the opening-day VIPs fans who paid a premium to get the first crack at the four-day sale. Mother and daughter duos, husband and wife teams, veteran collectors rubbing elbows with newbies looking to buy their first piece. All were chasing their own personal cookware unicorn — a 13.9-liter “goose pot” in cerise, for example, or a bread oven in sea salt blue. Or the especially elegant Sakura white Dutch Oven.
And then there was the big door prize — a chance to buy the limited-edition “mystery box,” which costs $50 but is filled with at least $300 of hard-to-find pots.
“They are rabid, rabid fans,” said Stockton, surveying the line. “I love them.”
The Potheads came from all over to attend the sold-out event, the company’s first-ever such sale in the Northeast (additional tickets may be made available for Sunday’s show, Stockton said.) Like Chenoa Bailey, 30, who flew up from Texas for her third La Creuset convention.
“I actually look forward more to this day than I do my birthday,” said Bailey
She stood near the front of the line, with a group of fellow Potheads from Delaware and Long Island, N.Y., all of whom she had just met. Camaraderie flowed.
“These are my people,” she said. ”This is a community.”
The doors opened and the crowd politely filed in. They were met by a rainbow of enameled cast-iron and stoneware as far as the eye could see. Rows and rows of tables stacked with skillets and saucepans and braisers. Bakeware and dinnerware. Tart dishes and tea kettles.
And all marked down at least 40 to 60%, coming in colors like cobalt and volcanique flame. Blue bell purple and persimmon. Marseille and meringue.
Within minutes, Marguerite Blackburn of Elmira, N.Y., had found her goose pot.
“That is the biggest one they make,” she said, gleefully.
Fhallon Combs, a manager at the Le Creuset Tannersville, Pa., who was working the sale, said she owns one just like it.
“It took my mom and I putting it into the oven together,” she said.
Indeed, for many, the sale was a way of continuing a tradition of passing the cookware down through generations. Like sisters Mary Rock, of Metuchen, N.J., and Denise Risley, of Newtown, who became collectors over 40 years ago, when their mother, who is French, bought them each a Dutch oven.
“It just exploded from there,” said Rock. “It’s just in our blood.”
For still others, the sale represented new traditions. Dominique McPhaul, 26, an engineer from Kensington, came with her boyfriend, Issac Guerrero, 26, also an engineer, of Brooklyn. McPhaul said she was excited to buy her mother, sister and friends cookware she knew would last forever.
“There’s a history of being able to pass things down that is really meaningful to me that I love about Le Creuset,” she said. “As people of color, a lot of times we don’t have things that we’re able to keep passing down. This, for me, is the start of that. I feel proud.”
And, as the morning wore on, a fast-forming tradition was heating up in the parking lot. The “Le Creuchella” pot swap sprouted up naturally at a sale earlier this year in Phoenix, explained Gigi Varnum, who flew up from Key West for the Philly show, and helped organize the parking lot pot party. It’s a space where shoppers can open up their mystery boxes — and barter and trade.
At one table, a deal was going down: Stephanie Spicer, of Washington Township, swapped a Marseille braiser with Tara Fitzpatrick, of Yonkers, N.Y., for some sugar pink frill bowls.
“Oh, la, la,” said Varnum, brokering the deal. “Is everyone happy?”
Yes, they agreed, everyone was happy.