Williams-Sonoma Review

I have been to many William-Sonoma stores and I have even purchased a few things from there, although I will proudly admit all the products I have purchased were on sale.  I love and have Le Creuset products, cook books, Henckels knives and Calphalon cookware sets and a few more items.  But I have purchased none of those from there (with the exception of Lidia's Family Table cook book, on sale for 14.99), I would have paid at least twice the amount that I actually did pay.  Macys offers almost all of the above mentioned products for a fraction of the price.  Please do not get me wrong, I do enjoy going into Williams-Sonoma and looking around, it makes me feel like I am a better cook by just being there.  But even the Williams-Sonoma branded cook books can be found a deeply discounted prices at such places like Costco and overstock.com.  With the exception of I would say less than 15%, all products in Williams-Sonoma can be found in other stores, such as Macys, Target, overstock.com Calphalon outlets for a discounted price.  When the economy is in a recession and even when it is not, I want everyone to know that you can achieve that Williams-Sonoma look for a fraction of the price. 

Another example, and I know it is not locally but I was in Florence Italy a little over a year ago and my husband and I purchased some olive oil from there for 10 euros, you can do the exchange, and in Williams-Sonoma, our same bottle is $60.  I wonder how much Williams-Sonoma is paying as I am sure they are getting a better deal than 10 euros per bottle.