Re: Crate & Barrel
slightly expanded article from the Star:
Yorkdale attracts top U.S. retailer
TheStar.com - Business - Yorkdale attracts top U.S. retailer
Toronto first stop in Crate and Barrel expansion drive
April 04, 2007
Dana Flavelle
business reporter
Crate and Barrel, a leading U.S-based home furnishings and housewares retailer, is opening the first of a chain of stores in Canada.
The Chicago-based retailer confirmed yesterday it is opening its first store outside the U.S. in Toronto's Yorkdale Shopping Centre in the fall of 2008.
"It's the only one we have in Canada so far," said Crate and Barrel spokesperson Bette Kahn. "We hope to have more in Toronto and our expansion plans call for more stores in Canada. We feel Canada is a very sophisticated and interesting market and a natural choice for our first international expansion."
She was unable to provide details on the number of stores Crate and Barrel has planned for Canada, nor on future locations outside the Greater Toronto Area. But observers said Calgary and Vancouver are likely choices.
The company operates 145 stores in the U.S.
Crate and Barrel's arrival will raise the bar for competitors, including department stores, other specialty retailers, such as Williams-Sonoma and Pottery Barn, and to some extent Ikea, industry observers said.
"The whole sector has been growing so quickly in the last couple of years. The housing market is still growing strong. I think there's room. But I also think others will feel it," said retail consultant Wendy Evans, of the Toronto firm Evans and Co.
"They're very well run, very astute," Evans added.
"They're the best home retailer in the world," said retail consultant John Williams, of the J.C. Williams Group Ltd. in Toronto. "Their taste level. The price points. The stores are a treat. You can't go in without buying something."
From its glassware, priced at under $12 (U.S.) apiece, to its colour-co-ordinated furnishings, about two-thirds of the merchandise is designed exclusively for its stores, a Crate and Barrel spokesperson said.
Crate and Barrel "adds another dimension" to Yorkdale's existing offerings in the home furnishings segment, Yorkdale's general manager John Giddings said. "It's very much a niche market. They change their offerings, their colour schemes, so quickly. They let you see the complete package, from the cutlery to the dishes to the furniture. It all matches. They tie it all together."
Construction on the two-storey, 35,000-square-foot store is scheduled to begin in June, Giddings said.
"We're relocating a few tenants," Giddings said, citing Tip Top Tailors and Eddie Bauer as two of the stores affected.
Started by a husband and wife team, Crate and Barrel is now majority-owned by German mail order giant Otto Group. Founder Gordon Segal is still Crate and Barrel's chief executive officer. The Otto Group publishes the German equivalent of the Sears catalogue.
Yorkdale's Giddings said it took two years of negotiations to secure Crate and Barrel as a tenant.
He said the retailer was attracted by Yorkdale's "brand" and its very high productivity level. The mall sells $1,000 (Canadian) worth of merchandise per square foot, the highest for any mall in Canada, and is synonymous with fashion and quality, he said.
