Great News! Cookware & Cooking School

San Diego, United States

3.6

20 reviews

Accepts Credit Cards

Contacts

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Telephone:
+1 858-270-1582
Website:
www.great-news.com
Address:
1788 Garnet Ave, San Diego, CA, 92109
b/t Jewell St & Kendall St
Pacific Beach
Nearby public transportation stops & stations:
1 miLine nr. 30
1.4 miBalboa Avenue
1.9 miClairemont Drive
Categories:
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Bussiness info

Accepts Credit Cards
Yes
Bike Parking
Yes
Wheelchair Accessible
Yes

Today

Today –
Local time (San Diego) 1:53 PM Tuesday, July 1, 2025

Business hours

Monday –
Tuesday –
Wednesday –
Thursday –
Friday –
Saturday –
Sunday –

Description

Specialties

Great News is a very complete cooks store and Cooking School for the home cook. We sell the highest quality cookware and cooks tools at the best prices any where and we teach 8 or more classes per week in our state of the art cooking school. We always treat our customers right and have been doing so since 1977.

History

Established in 1977.

Opened on July 15,1977 in Pacific Plaza in Pacific beach California as a functional giftware and greeting card and paper specialty store. Over the years we evolved to the best quality cookware and cooking tools to be the most prolific in San Diego County. We opened our cooking school in the store in 1996 and then opened our new store in the same shopping center in July 2002. We have been servind San Diegans happliy since 1977.

Meet the Business Owner

Ron E.

Business Owner

Ron was educated as a Pharmacist and owned and operated 2 Drug Stores in Cleveland, Ohio (Caroll Drug) from 1966 till 1976 when he sold everything and moved with his family to San Diego California. Ron became a retailer while operating the Drug Stores and became to enjoy listening to and helping customers with their desires and needs. This process has lead to Great News! Discount Cookweare & Cooking School as it stands today.

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«Devora and I love Olivier Biouteau and his food. This is a casual delicious dining spot»

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20 reviews of Great News! Cookware & Cooking School

No registration required
Place rating: 3
San Diego, CA
So what do I do with my $ 100 gift card now that this place is closed?
Place rating: 5
San Diego, CA
Great store! They have knowledgeable staff as well and they have a perfect variety of merchandise! I will be back
Place rating: 5
Santee, CA
This place was absolutely fantastic! I will miss it tremendously. They had things that a cook needed that no one else had in town. I wish they would come back.
Place rating: 1
Conifer, CO
I would like my gift card money back. Why sell me one and not tell me you are closing?
Place rating: 1
San Diego, CA
Good riddance for them on closing their store. Who honestly donates a free cooking class while knowingly have no plans to honor it? All of their cooking classes were full and stuck in waiting list and they are basically closing in 2 weeks. Not only did they not try to fix it like perhaps giving a store credit as they could care less at this point, they said sorry try to ask the people who they donated the free cooking class to for some sort of compensation… Absolutely ridiculous business practices.
Place rating: 5
Tampa, FL
I love this cute place that sells
nifty things!
I got some nice things today. Seems like they have a bunch of sets of pots and pans.
I saw some cute ones there to invest in
in long term.
Could use them for cooking.
We will definitely be back!
Place rating: 5
El Cajon, CA
My girlfriend and I have been going here for years so we can learn new recipes & techniques, and try new foods to make for our families.
For about 4 years we have been going here or giving gift certificates to each other for birthdays and Xmas presents and instead of just giving a gift, we give a gift of a day together and spending time learning and tasting. Best gifts ever!
We love the set-​up here, easy to see and hear everything, and Phillis Carey is our favorite chef. We often pick classes because it’s her.
I’ve bought lots of new gadgets and cooking utensils, and spices from here.
Place rating: 1
La Mesa, CA
I was a young chef shopping there by myself. One of the older sales ladies turned to a younger sales girl and said «A lonely fat person» the younger lady exclaimed «Eeewwww!» I was looking for a new gasket for my Khun-​Ricon pressure cooker. That was it. I’ll never forget that. I was having a great day in, what was to me, a little chefs toy shop, and how I felt after that was worthless.
Place rating: 5
Fairfax Station, VA
What a great place. I came from the east coast and found this place by accident. What a great find! Everyone in the store is very friendly and knowledgeable! They even offer cooking classes! If I lived here, this would be a great place to shop! I ended up buying my son a nice pan which he really needs!
Place rating: 3
San Diego, CA
This place is expensive! It’s located in the Von’s shopping center, so parking can be a challenge at times. I bought ramekins here and later found them for HALF the price at Sur La Table in La Jolla– who woulda thought?! On the plus side, nice customer service.
Place rating: 3
San Diego, CA
I used to come here often when I used to live in PB and then once a month when I moved to Mira Mesa. The store used to be packed to the gills with gadgets and an awe inspiring selection of pots, pans and cookware.
But sometime just be for the holidays I noticed the aisles got bigger and shelves shorter. Two days ago I went in and felt like the supplies were maybe at 30% of what it used to be. Which I found unfortunate. Most of my major purchases were spur of the moment impulse buys that they had and I didn’t realize I «needed». Now I feel like there’s nothing I can’t find anywhere else which is kind of sad.
I get that probably having that much back stock cost a lot of money but it’s definitely changed the feel of the place.
As far as the school/​classes I cannot recommend them enough. I’ve taken 3 and always had a GREAT time and learned a lot. So go if you’ve been considering it.
Place rating: 3
San Diego, CA
My friend gave me a gift card for the store and I finally was able to come in and check it out.
When I came in I was a bit surprised to see that they didn’t have a ton of merchandise on their shelves. Though, to be fair, I’m used to shopping at larger chain kitchen stores like Sur La Table or William Sonoma with stuff overflowing their aisles. They did have a good variety of Le Creuset and knives on hand – as well as a good amount of staff for mid-​week evening.
I’m not sure if I would come back if I needed some kitchen gadgets but I would definitely like to try out one of their cooking classes as it looks like there’s a lot of fun themes!
Place rating: 1
La Mesa, CA
We signed up for a tour in February, one we had also taken the year prior and were excited, planning things around that day of anticipated fun. Two weeks prior to the tour, we were online looking to sign up for another class and noticed that the tour was not even on the calendar anymore. We had already signed up, got our confirmation and paid the $ 250. We called to check on it because we were concerned and they told us that it had been cancelled and that «they had a lot of people to call» which is why they hadn’t reached out to us yet. 22 people were signed up for the tour. That is not a lot of people to call, especially when we had already made the commitment. We are incredibly disappointed in this failure to act as a business should and will not be supporting Great News in the future.
Place rating: 5
San Diego, CA
I love love love this place and I’m addicted to the cooking classes! I’ve shopped around and compared to other classes out there it’s a great value for the money plus they have the widest variety of topics. So far I’ve taken 5 classes and that’s in the last 4 months! That’s how addicted I am.
I found the knife skills classes real helpful. My skill level’s intermediate, but still found the beginner class worthwhile. Plus you get to take home all the veggies and potatoes that you cut. The intermediate level we butchered a chicken and gutted a fish.
When picking a class keep in mind that not all classes are hands on. Also, aside from the knife skills class, wine and small plates are served. Come hungry cause all those small plates add up.
The yummiest class so far was the hands-​on «steaks on the grill» class. All the sauces & marinades were delicious. My only disappointment was that the grilling wasn’t hands-​on. It was the marinade and sauce prep that was.
And lastly, so far all the instructors have been super friendly, professional and knowledgeable. Especially Phillis Carey and Katherine E. If I had to choose most funny & entertaining, I’d say George Geary. He teaches the Tart class as well as others plus hosts the Orange County foodie tour.
Place rating: 3
San Diego, CA
I should love this shop. I live next door and I love to bake/​cook… I’ve been three times in two day recently…
Well, while the shop is well organized (it’s why I give some stars)… I’d like to be greeted when I enter a shop (especially when it’s empty with 3 sales persons talking together), and I’d like to be helped for my purchases…
I had to ask where the fondant was (well they did not have some) etc etc… I know I have a strong (french) accent but I still can get some help when I ask for it? Thanks god I found finally a girl working there who got enthusiastic by my shark-​cake baking project and helped me a lot (she gets 5 stars).
Unfortunately she was not there when I came back later, so I bought what I needed, by myself (coloring food dye)… Maybe a $ 3 purchase is not enough in this shop to get a smile and a thanks when you pay ???
Place rating: 3
Lakewood, CA
Tons of selection, but, very pricey IMHO. HOwever, keep in mind I shop thrift stores for my gear so… with that said don’t judge them too harshly.
Place rating: 5
Carlsbad, CA
I thoroughly enjoyed the cooking demonstration that Katherine Emmenger led on paleo cooking. She was very knowledgable about the many ways people who follow a paleo diet vary the ingredients that they use. All of the employees at Great News were kind, helpful, and executed the evening wonderfully!
Katherine welcomed questions freely and gave helpful hints to prep meals flawlessly. The food was delicious and healthy. I will definitely be making many of the menu items. What class will I sign up for next?
Place rating: 5
San Diego, CA
My gf got us a cooking class here, and it was more fun than expected. It’s a cooking supply store with a legit cooking class set up in the back. We didn’t do any cooking which turned out to be just fine. The instructor is up front doing all the cooking, and the set is really pro with several TVs above and multiple shots of the prep and cook areas. I felt like I was on the set of a cooking show!
It was so hot that day that the power went out. There was just a little safety lighting and the instructor kept going without skipping a beat! What a pro. The food that was prepped (shrimp dip, mushroom over spinach salad, filet mignon steak, and cheese cake) were all solid restaurant quality.
The helpers in the store are very friendly, especially after you see the instructor using $ 700 blenders. I highly recommend checking this place out even if the entire class is filled with grandmas, and real house wives. It was actually kind of nice.
Place rating: 5
Chula Vista, CA
Last Christmas I told my wife I had enough toys and really did not have any need for yet one more. Being smarter than me she recognized my underlying «Foodie» instinct and bought me a gift certificate for a cooking class at Great News. Interesting I thought and with not a great deal of enthusiasm I attended the class. To the demise of my initial pessimism it turned out to be a great experience. I not only got to taste three small plates of very good food but also learned several new cooking techniques.
Both my wife and I have since attended numerous classes, all of which very enjoyable. We always get 3 to 5 small plates, 2 glasses of wine if desired, dessert and a wealth of valuable cooking information. I have a big appetite which is always fully satisfied.
During the classes they also use a number of products and «Gadgets» that we would have typically bypassed but really work. We have purchased many of them which have made our normal at home cooking much easier. No useless «As Seen on TV» trinkets to be found here.
Finally, their knowledgeable staff is the reason for their success. Our special thanks to Sunni and Tammy on the retail side and Veronica, the instructors and the rest of the staff on the cooking school side. We are already signed up for 3 more classes and planning to schedule more based on the expanded schedule they released today.
Place rating: 5
San Diego, CA
No impulse purchases. Pray for me! I went into Great News the other day looking for spice sachets and some cheese cloth. They did have it! I knew they would. I was able to contain myself this time. (Last time I walked out with a Cuisinart Food Processor $ 400.00) by only purchasing some locking Tongs that were a lime green color for $ 12.95 and $ 11.95 … I got off easy this time~!