Williams-Sonoma Pulls Pressure Cookers From Shelves

Williams-Sonoma, the specialty retailer of home furnishings and gourmet cookware, has pulled pressure cookers from the shelves of its 250+ stores after the April 15th Boston Marathon bombing including its Peachtree Corners store at The Forum.

The company has seven stores in the Atlanta metro area including two in Gwinnett County.

Patch contacted the store manager, who identified herself as Kathy, at the Peachtree Corners location but she said she was not able to comment and referred Patch to Pat Connelly, executive vice president of marketing in the company's corporate headquarters in New York.

However, two phone messages were left on Ms. Connelly's voice mail that have not been returned by our deadline for this story.

Dedham Patch in Massachussetts was able to speak to a store manager there who confirmed that the cookers had been removed from all of the company's stores. "It's a temporary thing out of respect," said Kent, who is the store manager of the Williams-Sonoma at the Natick Mall. He  also referred Patch to corporate for further questions.

A report in Cranston Patch (New Jersey) also confirmed that the cooking pots have been temporarily removed. That report states that a call to the Cranston location in Garden City Center shows the company has issued a larger company directive.

The Cranston Patch reports that  the "Cranston store manager Kyle, who asked his last name not to be used, said pressure cookers were taken off the shelves via a company directive because it didn't seem appropriate to sell them in the wake of the marathon bombings. Brothers Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev allegedly used pressure cookers to make the bombs used in the attacks in downtown Boston."

According to Dedham Patch's report the pressure cookers will still be available on the Williams-Sonoma website.

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