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Walmart stores and website still stocking Paula Deen items despite July end to sponsorship

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Boxes of Paula Deen tea kettles are displayed in a Little Rock, Ark., Wal-Mart Stores Inc. store Wednesday, Sept.25, 2013. Despite a July, 2013, announcement that it had ended its relationship with the Southern cook, the retailer said Wednesday it expects to keep her branded cookware on the shelves through the end of the year. (AP Photo/Danny Johnston)

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – Despite Wal-Mart’s July announcement that it ended its relationship with Paula Deen, the world’s largest retailer says it expects to keep her branded cookware on the shelves through the end of the year.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. said Wednesday that it had contracts with suppliers and expects to stock Deen’s items for the next three months.

The Southern celebrity chef lost many sponsorship deals earlier this year after acknowledging that she’d used racial slurs. The Food Network decided to not renew Deen’s show, Smithfield Foods dropped her as a spokeswoman and her name was removed from buffet restaurants at four casinos owned by Caesar’s.

Wal-Mart’s website still has a section devoted to Paula Deen cookware and other items. At least some of Wal-Mart’s Paula Deen stock is discounted.

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