Williams Sonoma is an American retailer of cookware, appliances, and
home furnishings
Furniture refers to movable objects intended to support various human activities such as seating (e.g., stools, chairs, and sofas), eating (tables), storing items, eating and/or working with an item, and sleeping (e.g., beds and hammocks). Fu ...
. It is owned by
Williams-Sonoma, Inc.
Williams-Sonoma, Inc. is an American publicly traded consumer retail company that sells kitchenware and home furnishings. It is headquartered in San Francisco, California, United States. The company has 625 brick and mortar stores and distribute ...
and was founded by
Charles E. (Chuck) Williams in 1956.
History
![Williams-Sonoma Chinook Centre](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7a/Williams-Sonoma_Chinook_Centre.jpg)
In 1947, Chuck Williams settled in
Sonoma, California
Sonoma is a city in Sonoma County, California, United States, located in the North Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area. Sonoma is one of the principal cities of California's Wine Country and the center of the Sonoma Valley AVA. Sonoma's p ...
, and opened his first shop as a hardware store. In 1953, Williams took his first trip to France, where he quickly fell in love with French kitchenware such as copper cookware, and is quoted as saying, "I knew this was something that wasn't found in America, but thought people would want." Shortly after returning home, he formulated a plan to import French cooking and serving equipment into America and eventually converted his store into a cookware shop in 1956.
Thus, Williams Sonoma was founded, selling professional and restaurant-quality kitchenware for home use, leading to founder Chuck Williams being recognized as one of the titans of the American food revolution.
After customer requests,
Williams relocated the store to
San Francisco
San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...
in 1958. The store quickly became a destination with culinary figures such as
Julia Child
Julia Carolyn Child (née McWilliams; August 15, 1912 – August 13, 2004) was an American cooking teacher, author, and television personality. She is recognized for bringing French cuisine to the American public with her debut cookbook, '' ...
and
James Beard
James Andrews Beard (May 5, 1903 – January 23, 1985) was an American chef, cookbook author, teacher and television personality. He pioneered television cooking shows, taught at The James Beard Cooking School in New York City and Seaside, ...
becoming customers of the flagship location.
In 1972, along with—and at the suggestion of—regular customer Jackie Mallorca, Williams began publishing a
mail order catalog
Mail order is the buying of goods or services by mail delivery. The buyer places an order for the desired products with the merchant through some remote methods such as:
* Sending an order form in the mail
* Placing a telephone call
* Placing a ...
to expand his business beyond the
San Francisco Bay Area
The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Go ...
.
At the suggestion of customer and friend Edward Marcus, of Dallas-based
Neiman Marcus
Neiman Marcus Group, Inc. is an American integrated luxury retailer headquartered in Dallas, Texas, which owns Neiman Marcus, Bergdorf Goodman, Horchow, and Last Call. Since September 2021, NMG has been owned by a group of investment compani ...
, Williams decided to expand the company and formed the corporation, Williams-Sonoma, Inc. in 1972.
The second Williams Sonoma store opened on
Rodeo Drive
Rodeo Drive is a street in Beverly Hills, California, with its southern segment in the City of Los Angeles. Its southern terminus is at Beverwil Drive, and its northern terminus is at its intersection with Sunset Boulevard in Beverly Hills. The ...
in
Beverly Hills
Beverly Hills is a city located in Los Angeles County, California. A notable and historic suburb of Greater Los Angeles, it is in a wealthy area immediately southwest of the Hollywood Hills, approximately northwest of downtown Los Angeles. Bev ...
in 1973.
The same year, Williams Sonoma introduced the
Cuisinart
Cuisinart ( ) is an American home appliance brand owned by Conair Corporation. The company was started in 1971 by Carl Sontheimer to bring an electric food processor to the U.S. market. The "Food Processor" was the first model, introduced at a f ...
food processor to the American market through its stores and catalog. Williams decided to sell his share of the company in 1978 to
W. Howard Lester
W. Howard Lester (August 14, 1935 – November 15, 2010) was an American businessman who took over Williams-Sonoma, Inc. in 1976 and acquired Pottery Barn in 1986, building a major catalog retailer that had more than 600 stores and annual sales ...
, an Oklahoma entrepreneur, and businessman James McMahan. Williams maintained an ownership interest and guided the selection of merchandise and the production of the catalog. Lester took an active role as president and chief executive, while McMahan was the company director. At the time, Williams Sonoma had revenues of $4 million.
The company partnered with
Time-Life Books
Time Life, with sister subsidiaries StarVista Live and Lifestyle Products Group, a holding of Direct Holdings Global LLC, is an American production company and direct marketer conglomerate, that is known for selling books, music, video/DVD, ...
in 1992 to release its first series of Williams Sonoma Kitchen Library cookbooks. In 1999, Williams Sonoma launched an
e-commerce
E-commerce (electronic commerce) is the activity of electronically buying or selling of products on online services or over the Internet. E-commerce draws on technologies such as mobile commerce, electronic funds transfer, supply chain manageme ...
website and
bridal registry
A bridal registry or wedding registry is a service provided by a website or retail store that assists engaged couples in the communication of gift preferences to wedding guests. Selecting items from store stock, the couple lists desired items and ...
.
In 2004, Williams Sonoma entered into an agreement with the
CBS News
CBS News is the news division of the American television and radio service CBS. CBS News television programs include the ''CBS Evening News'', ''CBS Mornings'', news magazine programs '' CBS News Sunday Morning'', '' 60 Minutes'', and '' 48 H ...
weekday program ''
The Early Show
''The Early Show'' is an American morning television show that aired on CBS from November 1, 1999 to January 7, 2012, and the ninth attempt at a morning news-talk program by the network since 1954. The program aired Monday through Friday from ...
'' to broadcast a segment, "The 5-Minute Cooking School", which presented cooking techniques, styles, and recipes. The special weekly series was televised from Williams Sonoma's East Coast flagship store at
The Shops at Columbus Circle
The Shops at Columbus Circle is an upscale shopping mall in Deutsche Bank Center, a skyscraper complex in Manhattan, New York City. It is located at Columbus Circle, next to the southwestern corner of Central Park.
Details
The shopping mall inc ...
in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
's
Time Warner Center
Deutsche Bank Center (also One Columbus Circle and formerly Time Warner Center) is a mixed-use building on Columbus Circle in Manhattan, New York City. The building occupies the western side of Columbus Circle and straddles the border between ...
. This was followed by the debut of upscale Williams Sonoma Home in 2005.
Williams Sonoma opened a store at the site of its original location in Sonoma, California, in 2014. Williams Sonoma founder Chuck Williams celebrated his 99th birthday on the store's opening on October 2, 2014.
In popular culture
Williams Sonoma's stores and gift registries have been referenced to, on television shows including ''
Sex and the City
''Sex and the City'' is an American romantic comedy, romantic comedy-drama television series created by Darren Star for HBO. An adaptation of Candace Bushnell's Sex and the City (newspaper column), newspaper column and 1996 book anthology of the ...
'' (Season 1, Episode 3: "
Bay of Married Pigs
The first season of ''Sex and the City'', an American television romantic comedy-drama, aired in the United States on HBO from June 6 to August 23, 1998. Based on the eponymous book written by Candace Bushnell, the series was created by Darren St ...
"), ''
American Dad!
''American Dad!'' is an American animated sitcom created by Seth MacFarlane, Mike Barker and Matt Weitzman for the Fox Broadcasting Company. Since 2014, the series has been airing new episodes on TBS. ''American Dad!'' is the first television ...
'' (Season 2, Episode 16: "
When a Stan Loves a Woman
The third season of '' American Dad!'' aired from September 10, 2006, to May 20, 2007.
The season consisted of nineteen episodes. The first half of the season is included in the Volume 2 DVD box set, which was released on May 15, 2007; and the s ...
"), ''
Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist
''Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist'' is an American adult animated sitcom that ran on Comedy Central from May 28, 1995 to February 13, 2002. The series starred the voice talents of Jonathan Katz, H. Jon Benjamin, and Laura Silverman. The show wa ...
'' (Season 6, Episode 7: "Used Car"), ''
Frasier
''Frasier'' () is an American television sitcom that was broadcast on NBC for 11 seasons. It premiered on September 16, 1993, and ended on May 13, 2004. The program was created and produced by David Angell, Peter Casey (screenwriter), Peter Case ...
'',
Mike Tyson Mysteries
''Mike Tyson Mysteries'' is an American adult animated television series, and is the first collaboration between Warner Bros. Animation and Williams Street. It premiered October 27, 2014 on Adult Swim. The series features Mike Tyson solving myster ...
, ''
Friends
''Friends'' is an American television sitcom created by David Crane and Marta Kauffman, which aired on NBC from September 22, 1994, to May 6, 2004, lasting ten seasons. With an ensemble cast starring Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa ...
'' (Season 5, Episode 4: "
The One Where Phoebe Hates PBS"), ''
The Office (American TV series)
''The Office'' is an American mockumentary sitcom television series that depicts the everyday work lives of office employees at the Scranton, Pennsylvania, branch of the fictional Dunder Mifflin Paper Company. It aired on NBC from March 24, 20 ...
'' (Season 8, Episode 9: "
Mrs. California"), ''
The Simpsons
''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical depiction of American life, epitomized by the Simpson family, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, ...
'' (Season 31, Episode 8: "Thanksgiving of Horror"), and ''
Family Guy
''Family Guy'' is an American animated sitcom originally conceived and created by Seth MacFarlane for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The show centers around the Griffin family, Griffins, a dysfunctional family consisting of parents Peter Griff ...
(Season 19, Episode 13: "PeTerminator").
Williams Sonoma products have been featured numerous times on ''
The Oprah Winfrey Show
''The Oprah Winfrey Show'', often referred to as ''The Oprah Show'' or simply ''Oprah'', is an American daytime broadcast syndication, syndicated talk show that aired nationally for 25 seasons from September 8, 1986, to May 25, 2011, in Chicag ...
''s
Oprah's Favorite Things
"Oprah's Favorite Things" was an annual segment that appeared on ''The Oprah Winfrey Show'' from the 1990s to 2008 and 2010, as well as on ''Rachael Ray'' in 2017. In the segment, which airs during Thanksgiving week and was inspired by the holiday ...
specials including Williams Sonoma Home bedding (2004), Williams Sonoma's croissants (2002, 2005, and 2010), Williams Sonoma's
melamine
Melamine is an organic compound with the formula C3H6N6. This white solid is a trimer of cyanamide, with a 1,3,5-triazine skeleton. Like cyanamide, it contains 67% nitrogen by mass, and its derivatives have fire retardant properties due t ...
mixing bowls, measuring cups, and measuring spoons (2007), Perfect Ending Cupcakes and
Breville's Ikon
Panini Press (sold by Williams Sonoma) (2007), and Williams Sonoma's Waring Popcorn Maker (2014).
In the film ''
The Muse'', all the kitchen supplies used to manufacture the wives' cookies were purchased at Williams Sonoma. In the musical ''
Dear Edwina
''Dear Edwina'' is a musical by Zina Goldrich (music) and Marcy Heisler (book and lyrics). A children's one-hour musical, it concerns a young girl who gives her neighborhood friends and family advice through singing in a musical show. It is ...
'', one song references "Williams" and "Sonoma" as being people that sing along with the Fairy Forkmother to teach a chef how to set a table.
References
External links
Official website
{{Williams-Sonoma
Retail companies based in California
Companies based in San Francisco
Retail companies established in 1956
Home decor retailers
1956 establishments in California
*
Catalogues
American companies established in 1956