Crate & Barrel
Mention Crate and Barrel and just about every American has made a purchase there. This popular Northbrook, Illinois-based company was launched by a couple in 1962 and today thrives as one of the top housewares chains in the nation. Expanded upon over the years, selections now include furniture (indoor and out) and home accessories. Many of the products are directly imported from smaller artisan and design companies in Europe, Thailand, Mexico and India. Categories of these moderately-priced yet smart products include Outdoor, Furniture, Dining & Entertaining, Kitchen & Food, Bed & Bath, Decorating & Accessories, Organizing & Storage, Gifts, as well as various seasonal specialties. The store’s signature wedding and gift registry is also a favorite among many. Crate and Barrel’s two other divisions include CB2, an affordable modern home store and The Land of Nod, a retailer of unique children’s furnishings and gifts.
Enter a Crate and Barrel store and it feels as if you’ve been invited to someone’s hip family room or stunning alfresco dining room. Stylish vignettes are abundant throughout the space and create the desire to have everything single furnishing featured. With polished concrete or natural wood floors, interiors boast prominent and clean-lined product displays with prices clearly featured in large black-and-white shelf tags. Speaking of this no-nonsense color theme, Crate and Barrel is known for its ultra-cool gift boxes that simply bear oversized logo letters against a stark white backdrop.
Protecting the environment and its resources is nothing new to Crate and Barrel. In the past few years, though, even they have stepped up their efforts by using a majority of Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)-certified upholstery and wood, as well as Tropical Forest Trust (TFT)-supported furnishings. Packaging, including shopping bags and those trademark black-and-white boxes, is now green and made with sizeable percentages of post-consumer materials. Low-energy lighting and stringent in-store recycling programs are also in place. A varied “Eco-Friendly” collection of furniture, kitchen and home accessories is available.
With a catalog that presents attainable home decorating dreams, a shopping site that is truly addictive and over 170 stores in the United States-plus its first international expansion to Canada-this is Crate and Barrel, and beyond.
For more information, please visit www.crateandbarrel.com
