Crate and Barrel

[samsonyuen]

Awesome news! I hope to see a Crate & Barrel (or trendier C2) in Queen St./Metropolis or Yorkville! For those who've never heard of Crate & Barrel, think of Caban or trendier Pier 1.
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Crate & Barrel eyes Canada, Block 37 for new stores

BECKY YERAK
Published May 17, 2005

More than 40 years after opening the first of his 140 stores, Gordon Segal is looking to expand his Crate & Barrel chain north of the border.

The co-founder and chief executive officer of the Northbrook-based home furnishings chain recently said that his private company is considering opening stores in Canada.

"We're looking at Toronto and Vancouver," Segal said at the May 6 opening of a Crate & Barrel in Geneva, his 140th store. "Those will probably be our first foreign markets. We have some locations we're working on, though they may never come to pass. We're looking at early '07 to open."

Segal also said that he's "talking to" the developers of Block 37, the proposed mixed-use Chicago project marked by years of fits and starts.

"But we've got to see what it's going to end up being at the end of the day," he said.

"We've been talking to all the prior owners for seven, eight years. It has gone from one developer to another. When we understand the plan of what they're doing and who they'll have in there, we'll decide whether it's appropriate to put a store there. Then you've got to decide if the space and rents work."

 

[samsonyuen]

From: www.chicagotribune.com/bu...siness-hed
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Crate & Barrel filling up with new stores, brand

By Mary Ellen Podmolik
Special to the Tribune
Published May 16, 2006

Crate & Barrel, widely known within retailing circles for its cautious growth strategy over the past 44 years, is getting more aggressive with new store openings.

The Northbrook-based chain will enter three markets and open up to 13 stores in the next 18 months, as well as extend the new edgier, more urban CB2 brand to another city, said Gordon Segal, chief executive officer.

The company said the Crate & Barrel chain now has 144 stores.

Its first step outside the United States, across the Canadian border into Toronto, also is planned for next year.

At the same time, Segal, who founded the chain with his wife in Chicago's Old Town neighborhood, is slowly pulling himself away from the 60-hour workweeks he has maintained while building the company. Longtime employee Barbara Turf, 63, who has served as company president since 1996, will begin making more public appearances, Segal said in an interview.

With the merchandise mix in CB2 tweaked--focusing more on home furnishings and less on accessories--and a catalog, Web site and gift registry operational, Segal believes the new concept is ready to roll out beyond the two Chicago stores, the first of which opened in 2000. Eventually there could be up to 150 stores, he said.

He hopes to open six more CB2 stores in the next 18 months, including another in the Chicago market. Beyond that, executives are trying to decide whether to first bring the chain to Los Angeles, New York or Miami. Miami may be the best bet, Segal said, because it has produced the best sales for CB2's catalog and online business outside of Chicago.

New markets for Crate & Barrel will be Charlotte and Kansas City this year and Connecticut next year. After three years of negotiation, Segal said the chain is close to two real estate deals in Toronto. Expansion into Europe, however, will take more time.

Crate has undertaken a study of every product in its inventory, to determine what products would easily translate abroad and what merchandise would have to be redesigned.

Two hitches he already sees: Crate's overstuffed furniture may not fit in smaller European apartments, and its measuring spoons would have to be redesigned to accommodate the British definition of teaspoon.

Segal, 67, sold a majority stake in the company in 1998 to Otto Group, but he has always been considered the public face of Crate & Barrel. He still spends up to a third of his time traveling for the company, but he admits "the excitement isn't as much there."

"I'm slowly transitioning," Segal said. "I don't want to be here when I'm 75 or 80. You get more tired. It's a very high-energy job."

Segal credits Marimekko, the Finnish textile company he began working with in 1966, as the "biggest single influence" on Crate's architecture, display, product design and on his life. Today the boldly colored fabric is only sold in outlet stores, but it remains part of the store displays and is prominently featured at the firm's Northbrook headquarters.

Crate is sponsoring an exhibit of Marimekko at the Illinois Institute of Technology June 10 through July 28.

 

[vistaway]

Finally! It's about bloody time C&B moved up here--they've been talking about it for years.

I wonder where the two location will be? These are pretty big stores (most I've been in are slightly larger than Pottery Barns), and they are almost always in malls. Eaton Centre? Square One?

 

[samsonyuen]

Perhaps a nice Yorkville store and Sherway? I don't think there's any room at Yorkdale or Eaton Centre, and Square One rarely gets debuts.

 

[rdaner]

I'd say Bloor west of Avenue and Yorkdale. I know the addage about never going west of Avenue on Bloor, but this has to change at some point and I believe the ROM, Conservatory and new condos with large amounts of retail at their bases will change this belief.

 

[andreapalladio]

The old Sporting Life/Roots/Georg Jensen space is sitting there all unrented...

 

[pw20]

The Sporting Life space isn't big enough for Crate and Barrel. It's also the new Coke Cafe or whatever it is they're promotting.
What will be interesting is all of the new retail space that will be available in the two Yorkville Condo developments. Most retail in Yorkville isn't really up to par with the international carriage tradee retailers... this will change the face of retail in Yorkville for sure.

 

[adma]

Ah yeah, I was thinking of that too re Georg Jensen..."is this where that Coke joint's gonna go"...

 

[samsonyuen]

Perhaps a Crate & Barrel could go somewhere in 1BE? That'd be great!

 

[tudararms]

I wonder if this will be the full Crate & Barrel, with furnishings? If so, would King East be appropriate? Over by Up Country and EQ3 etc.

 

[andreapalladio]

My spies tell me that Crate & Barrel will open in Yorkdale this spring.

 

[Darkstar416]

Cool, now we just need them to take over the new Urban Planet location on Queen West.

 

[andreapalladio]

I'm hoping they'll take the old Gap location at Yonge & Dundas, or else somewhere out on King East.

 

[samsonyuen]

Is Far Coast on Bloor doing that well? And is that Gap space not too big? I'd rather it go to a flagship retailer myself.

Where would Crate & Barrel go in Yorkdale? Another expansion? I can't think of a big enough space, unless they reconfigure spaces, or something big leaves... It'd be nice on Queen Street, and maybe on Bloor as well. 1BE, perhaps? Yorkdale's gone through a big change recently too, closing its longstanding Fabricland downstairs for a rapidly-expanding Moxie's.

I think the Urban Planet is a disappointment in Caban's old space. I believe they have the Vancouver spot too. Banana Republic took the Montreal space, which would be better than Urban Planet, even.

 

[tudararms]

Crate & Barrel have small mall-size suburban stores and larger stand-alone stores with furniture etc. Urban Planet would be the perfect location for the latter.