The American homewares retailer is closing its only Quebec store at the end of the month.
Posted at 5:30 p.m.
The Carrefour Laval boutique will close its doors on May 31. Fifty people lost their jobs.
“Crate & Barrel will be closing the Laval site,” confirms Abby Dunn, the retailer’s spokesperson in Canada, “but the good news is that later this month Crate & Barrel will be launching a new e-commerce site for the region that will will offer all the best the brand has to offer, as well as a delivery service and much more, ”she continues, in an email.
This is a change, since Quebec customers did not have access until now to the company’s Canadian transactional site. “Welcome to our Quebec customers, we read there, Monday, on the home page of the site. Online purchase of Crate & Barrel products is not available in this province. We invite you to visit our Quebec store to shop our latest collections. »
Crate & Barrel also operates a warehouse on 32and Avenue in the borough of Lachine. Large store-bought items can be picked up there, according to the company’s website.
End of lease
To return to the Laval store, the 2,400 square meter (25,000 square foot) premises opened in 2012. There are furniture, linens, decorative items and tableware.
Born in Chicago, the chain has existed since 1962. It has more than 100 stores, including six in Canada, including the one in Laval.
“This is the end of the lease, confirms Sylvie Plourde, rental manager at Carrefour Laval at Cadillac Fairview. Preliminary discussions are ongoing, but we are unable to disclose who it is at this time. »
Crate & Barrel occupies part of the space formerly used by the Les Ailes de la mode store, with good visibility on Highway 440.
The problems at the Laval store were brought up publicly in 2020, when the retailer’s management decided not to implement its Crate and Kids concept in Laval, at the same time as in its five other stores in Canada.
Crate and Kids is Crate & Barrel’s baby and children’s home furnishings brand.
“The Laval store presents certain operational challenges,” explained Alicia Waters, vice-president of growth strategies, to the magazine. Retail Insiders.
revolving doors
The chain also suffers from instability at its head: five bosses have succeeded at Crate & Barrel in ten years. Quite a change of pace as the company had previously been run by its founder Gordon Segal for 40 years.
The CEO who opened the Laval store, Barbara Turf, retired in 2012. Since then, four people have taken over her position. Current boss Janet Hayes took over in August 2020.
With William Leclerc, The Press