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Article: Crate & Barrel evolves with new formats, goods.(Euromarket Design Inc.)
- Article from:
- Furniture-Today
- Article date:
- August 21, 2006
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2006 Reed Business Information, Inc. (US). This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Carole Sloan
Northbrook, Ill.-- Crate & Barrel has become a retailing leader since its humble beginnings 44 years ago, and the company now has 145 stores and total sales of $1.1 billion, up 9.1% from its '04 sales. Furniture sales were $365 million in 2005, up 12.3% from 2004.
The first Crate unit was a 1,700-square-foot store in a former elevator factory in downtown Chicago.
In 1968, the second Crate store opened. In 1973, the company started its catalog business and, in 1999, expanded its direct-to-consumer activity with a Web site.
In 1985, the company's strongest growth began with both mall and freestanding stores. In 1989, the ...