By Brian Anderson
Valley Times

May 12, 2000

PLEASANTON —She came, she pitched, she sold a pallet-load of plates.

Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of York and frontwoman for a fine china outfitter, wowed hundreds of royal watchers while peddling plates, tea cups and other delicate dishes Thursday at a Stoneridge department store.

They started arriving early, some purportedly from as far away as Colorado, Seattle and Atlanta. The distinctly female crowd packed into Macy's stuffy men's section, of all places, waiting in hand-wringing anticipation.

"She's resting her arm," store president Jerry Sullivan told the antsy crowd. "She's been signing plates since 9 this morning."

Soon the buzz was flowing over the crowd from the suit section to the shoe department.

"Here she comes," one woman said as the rock-star equivalent of England's Royal Family marched onto a makeshift stage to camera flashes and a standing ovation.

Flanked by a trunk stuffed with a tea set and a table bedecked with blue, yellow, green and red plates, Ferguson, 40, set sail on a 25-minute infomercial. her speech ran the gamut -- part life history of a royal plagued by king-size public problems, part sales pitch for one of many employers.

"Diet food tastes much nicer on a pretty plate," she quipped to laughter, referring to her years of battling the bulge and job as spokeswoman for Weight Watchers.

Moving at a frenetic pace, the woman endearingly known as "Fergie" drew the crowd in with mentions of devastation in war-ravaged Kosovo and something about Peter Pan and an African drought. But with the wryness of a seasoned saleswoman, she steered it all back to what she came to do -- sell fancy dishes.

"I'm telling you because I'm trying to bring a bit of beauty into your lives," she said. "Life is so serious with bills, jobs, being overweight. Let's do it for all the people who would love to do what we do."

With that message in their minds, throngs headed for the escalator that carried them up to a china-buying nirvana.

"It's been pretty busy all day," said Macy's employee Betty Aperrie as hundreds of shoppers and nearly as many employees whirled about. "We're usually just busy on the weekends."

Serving plates costing $120 ($30 off the regular price) disappeared from shelves as Fergie fanatics lined up to have the duchess sign their wares.

Bill White of Carmel, who came with his mother, Dot, was expecting a long wait Thursday to see royalty.

"There's the bathrooms and water," White said, motioning to the facilities a few feet away. "(We'll) take breaks."

For others, Ferguson's visit wasn't so much about china as it was about eyeballing a famous person.

"I thought she looked great," said Maureen Nolan of Pleasanton. "I think celebrities can influence a lot of people ... and she's a good role model."