CB2, Crate and Barrel's offspring

CB2, Crate and Barrel’s sprightlier Gen Y offspring, is scheduled to open its 8,000-square foot SoHo store on Tuesday (next to the Muji Store!), as part of the gentretail-ification of the Broadway stretch north of Canal. The eagerly anticipated store, located at 451 Broadway, is the first CB2 outside of the Chicago area (and third over all). For years, this City Room reporter has been obsessed with CB2, once even making a trip to Chicago, in part to see the two CB2 stores there.
CB2

While born of Chicago, CB2 might find its true soul mate in New Yorkers (not that we want to annoy Chicago again). Its merchandise is designed for Apartments as opposed to Homes, meaning suitable for manuevering through those tight New York corners. (”It’s not puffy armchairs and sofas, it’s more modern and easier to get up a flight of stairs,” said Bette Kahn, a spokeswoman.) It’s economical, modern and a bit whimsical — haute urban style, or those who have more taste than money.
CB2

The emergence of CB2 is the result of back-to-its-roots soul-searching for Crate and Barrel. It’s hard to remember these days, but when Crate and Barrel was first started by a pair of 23-year-olds it was cheap and counterculture, known for inexpensive and stylish housewares, often imported, for people on a budget. (I know, it’s like learning your parents once did drugs, or that Ann Taylor had its roots in Forever 21.) Following that path, its early forays into furniture in the late 1980s were inexpensive Scandinavian design — sofas that might have cost less than $500, for example (sound familiar?). But suprisingly its client base rejected that approach. They wanted nicer stuff, because they were growing up and making more money. So today Crate and Barrel is the place of $2,000 beds and $140 fondue sets. (It’s a reminder that we all grow up.)
CB2

In recent years, there is an influx of retailers discovering the market for furniture for people who don’t want their parents’ furniture. Some are moving high to low — not only Crate and Barrel, but Williams Sonoma has its also foray into economic urban furniture with its West Elm stores. Others, like Chicago-based Chiasso, are moving from low to high — extending their product lines from housewares to include furniture (much like Crate and Barrel did in the 1980s). Either way, New York City seems to be a mecca. “We had to be in New York if we were going anywhere, because that was the capital of everything,” said Ms. Kahn. (That’s the attitude City Room likes.)

While we are on the topic of this market, your City Room reporter is reminded of the time a friend said his newest girlfriend was like the furniture from Ikea: cheap, stylish, disposable.

Source: New York Times, 11/05/07