Williams-Sonoma

Williams-Sonoma is an American company that sells specialty cooking utensils and other housewares, along with a variety of foods including gourmet coffees. Its principal office is in San Francisco. The company operates in two segments: retail and direct-to-customer. The retail segment of its business sells the company's products through its five retail store concepts: Williams-Sonoma, Pottery Barn, Pottery Barn Kids, Hold Everything and West Elm. The direct-to-customer segment of the company's business sells similar products through its eight direct-mail catalogs (Williams-Sonoma, Pottery Barn, Pottery Barn Kids, Pottery Barn Bed + Bath, PBteen, Hold Everything, West Elm and Williams-Sonoma Home), and its six e-commerce Web sites (williams-sonoma.com, potterybarn.com, potterybarnkids.com, pbteen.com, westelm.com and holdeverything.com). As of Jan. 30, 2005, Williams-Sonoma, operated more than 550 retail stores located in 43 states, Washington, D.C., and Canada. The company has 522 shareholders. It maintains a location in Las Vegas.