Allders has come under after it offered free knives to shoppers.
Audrey Burke, from Shirley, was in the department store last Tuesday when she heard an announcement that free pairing knives worth £5 were being given away in the store's kitchen department.
The offer is a long-running promotion, but Miss Burke said: "In light of the current climate of knife crime I think offering any type of knife for free is quite insensitive. These ones may only be a few inches long but a knife is a knife."
A store spokesman said: "The free paring knife promotion is a cookery promotion that we've run successfully for several years. We impose a voluntary age restriction of 21 years and over, whereas the law states 16 years."
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