The Le Creuset has landed: Kitchen Window's new home.
I had to step around a few electricians, but I got inside Kitchen Window this morning, for the Uptowner's first official day of business in its spacious new home.
The new store (located, sort-of, in the former home of Borders Books, part of a new and much-needed extension and renovation of the 1980's-era shopping center) is roughly 50 percent larger than its predecessor, and the roominess is evident at every turn. "It's the store we'd always hoped to have," a sales associate said to me.
The store's cooking school, now in its 10th year, is directly above the retail floor, on the center's second floor. A very cool addition: an outdoor terrace overlooking Hennepin Avenue, a slick new space for outdoor cooking classes. Classes probably won't start in the new facility until after Thanskgiving, but visitors can get a tour of the new school on Saturday during Calhoun Square's 20th annual Coffee Fest.
A second-floor terrace will host private outdoor cooking classes.
The store's former home - it seems hard to believe that it's almost 25 years old - will, in the short term, be a clearance outlet.
