Crate and Barrel

Infobox_Company
company_name = Crate & Barrel
company_
company_type = Private
foundation = 1962 Chicago, Illinois, USA
location = Northbrook, Illinois, USA
industry = Retail
products = Housewares, furniture.
homepage = [http://www.crateandbarrel.com/ www.crateandbarrel.com] is for children.

After their honeymoon in Europe, the Segals became interested in providing functional yet aesthetically pleasing products to young couples who were just starting out. They were surprised to see that Europe had many beautiful and durable products at reasonable prices, and were inspired to start their own store in the United States.

The first store opened in response to a flourishing of world trade in home furnishings due to the early 1960s round of talks about the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade. The Segals sought out small European companies that were not represented in America and negotiated direct purchases from these factories that could be sold to the consumer while avoiding a wholesaler's markup. To this day, a majority of Crate & Barrel's products are direct imports from Europe, though Thai, Mexican and Indian glass and textiles can also be found in their stores.

The Segals derived the company name by the materials that they originally used to display items in their Chicago store. The Segals were originally going to call their company "Barrel and Crate", but a friend suggested that they reverse the order of the words.Fact|date=December 2007 They turned over the crates and barrels that the merchandise came in, let the wood excelsior spew out, and stacked up the china and glass. This helped emphasize their strongest selling point, that their products were direct imports. Although locally managed, the controlling stake of Crate & Barrel's stock is now owned by Otto GmbH.

International expansion

On April 4, 2007, Crate and Barrel announced that it will be opening a store in 2008 at Yorkdale Shopping Centre in Toronto, Ontario. A new 2-story, 35,000 square foot building, similar to other newly opened Crate and Barrel stores in the U.S., will be constructed on this site. According to "Crain's Chicago Business", future international expansion in Canada and possibly other countries is also planned.cite web|url=http://www.thestar.com/article/199201|title=Yorkdale attracts top U.S. retailer|publisher=Toronto Star|date=2007-04-04|accessdate=2008-01-06] [ [http://chicagobusiness.com/cgi-bin/news.pl?id=24486 Chicago Business News, Analysis & Articles | Crate & Barrel to expand outside U.S. | Crain's ] ]

Products

Crate and Barrel offers a variety of "upmarket" housewares, furniture, and related merchandise. These are displayed in the "vignette" style, where items are grouped together as they might appear in the home. The company was an innovator of this style, which has since become more widely used. [ [http://www.fool.com/specials/1999/sp990623ipo2.htm fool.com: Crate & Barrel- Companies Fools Wish Were Public (special), June 23, 1999 ] ]

References

External links

* [http://www.crateandbarrel.com Official site]
* [http://www.cb2.com CB2 official site]
* [http://www.landofnod.com Land Of Nod official site]
* [http://www.crateandbarrel.ca Crate and Barrel Canada official site]