Crate & Barrel to enter Canadian market
Michael J. Knell -- Furniture Today, May 21, 2007
Toronto — Crate & Barrel plans to open its first Canadian store here in autumn 2008.
The Top 100 company, based in Northbrook, Ill., is expected to open a 35,000-square-foot store in the Yorkdale Shopping Centre, one of Canada's best-known retail platforms.
"We chose Yorkdale because of its location, its style and its mix of stores," said Bette Khan, Crate & Barrel community and public relations representative. "Its customers are educated and sophisticated shoppers."
Some Crate & Barrel items are available in Canada via online shopping, but require consumers to pay a premium for shipping and handling, duties and taxes. And certain key brands, including furniture collections, are not available to Canadian residents.
However, the company said all items now available in its U.S. stores will be offered in the Canadian store.
Crate's offshoot brands — the modern CB2 line of furniture and furnishings and The Land of Nod, a children's line — will not make the move north. Khan said the two lines are operated as separate businesses.
The Yorkdale Shopping Centre has often been the point of entry to the Canadian market for U.S. retailers. Other home goods retailers with stores there include Williams-Sonoma, Pottery Barn and Pottery Barn Kids.
