This helped emphasize their strongest selling point - that their products were direct imports. They turned over the crates and barrels that the merchandise came in, let the wood excelsior spill out, and stacked up the china and glass. A friend suggested they call their company "Barrel and Crate", but Carole thought they should reverse the order of the words. The Segals derived the company name by the materials that they originally used to display items in their Chicago store. 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 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. 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. They traveled throughout Europe buying directly from glassblowers, ceramicists and factories making French copper pots and simple white bistro dinnerware. The Segals started by recruiting an employee and leasing an abandoned elevator factory on Chicago's Wells Street. Surprised to see that European manufacturers offered many beautiful and durable products at reasonable prices, they were inspired to start their own store in the United States. They became interested in providing functional and aesthetically pleasing products to young couples just starting out. The inspiration was their honeymoon in the Caribbean, where the Segals saw inexpensive yet tasteful European household products for sale. The 1,700-square-foot (160 m 2) space in part of an old elevator factory was located at 1516 North Wells Street in the then- bohemian Old Town neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois. Gordon and Carole Segal opened the first Crate & Barrel store on December 7, 1962, at age 23. They employ 8200 employees across over 100 stores in the United States and Canada, with franchises in Central America, South America, Asia and United Arab Emirates. Crate & Barrel headquarters Crate & Barrel store on Beverly Drive in Beverly Hills, CaliforniaĮuromarket Designs Inc., doing business as Crate & Barrel (stylized as Crate&Barrel), is an international furniture and home décor retail store headquartered in Northbrook, Illinois.
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