Our Flagship Factory Store Turns 20!
The very first Lodge Cast Iron Factory store in South Pittsburg, Tennessee celebrates its 20th anniversary today.
The very first Lodge Cast Iron Factory store in South Pittsburg, Tennessee celebrates its 20th anniversary today. The store, which opened on December 9, 1994, originally sold nothing but discounted factory seconds (cosmetically blemished items). Over the years, the store has added new Lodge products, as well as cooking accessories from several other companies.
Rita Appleton (pictured) has been the South Pittsburg store manager since day one and continues to run the shop.
“It’s a totally different world now than it was when I came,” she says. She remembers her very first cash register, a push button machine that only held up to 200 SKUs (products). Now, she says there are over 2,000.
Lodge now runs additional factory stores located in Sevierville and Pigeon Forge, Tennessee and Commerce, Georgia. Click here for more info.
