Nature is finding its way into Crate
&
amp; Barrel’s corporate headquarters, and that’s just fine with
Barbara Turf, the woman slated to take over the home goods and
furniture retailer as chief executive in May.
Nature is finding its way into Crate & Barrel’s corporate headquarters, and that’s just fine with Barbara Turf, the woman slated to take over the home goods and furniture retailer as chief executive in May.
On a cloudy winter day, a snowy white light pervades the company’s Northbrook, Ill., office building, a white brick-and-glass structure with expansive windows, pine walls and a staircase suspended in an open atrium. Walk through the reception area and you will discover Crate’s interpretation of what is happening in American culture today: a bamboo nightstand, cotton organic towels, eco-friendly upholstered chairs.
“The whole environmentally friendly movement is just beginning,” said Turf, sitting in a glass-walled conference room that juts out of the building toward a grove of trees. “I’m amazed at the amount of people becoming environmentally friendly and socially conscious. There’s just such a huge movement, and it’s going to get bigger and bigger.”
Expanding Crate’s green initiatives is at the top of Turf’s to-do list as CEO. She also wants to see Crate expand overseas and open more CB2 and Land of Nod stores.
But her most weighty task, one that she expects to take the next three to five years, is to put in place the next generation.
When Gordon Segal, the founder of Crate & Barrel, hands over the CEO post to Turf, Crate’s longtime president, it will mark the first time the 46-year-old home-furnishing chain will operate without the meticulous merchant’s daily presence. Segal will remain chairman and take on the role of consultant and adviser.
Segal’s decision to slowly remove himself from the business is textbook, but in reality hard to pull off, said Lloyd Shefsky, clinical professor of entrepreneurship and family business at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management.
“It’s not that remarkable to start and build a business,” said Lloyd, who interviewed Segal for a book he wrote on entrepreneurs. “It’s the transition from an entrepreneurial business to a managed business that is so difficult, not functionally but psychologically. It’s even more difficult with the business that succeeds to get people to let go.”
Segal is stepping back during one of the worst housing downturns in recent memory, a fact that will test Turf’s mettle.
The housing market slump has taken its toll on many home goods and furniture retailers, putting companies such as Wickes Furniture and Bombay Co. out of business and dragging down sales at big department stores such as Macy’s and J.C. Penney.
But Crate has managed to keep chugging along. Sales rose about 8.5 percent for the fiscal year ended Jan. 31, and sales at stores open at least a year, a common barometer of financial health known as same-store sales, increased 5.5 percent, driven by furniture sales, Segal said in a January interview.
Crate is estimated to have generated about $1.3 billion in sales in 2007. Crate’s parent, German catalog operator Otto Group, is scheduled to release its year-end figures in coming weeks.
Turf, 63, has spent much of her career working with Segal, 69, and has helped to set the retailer’s style and strategic direction. After starting in part-time sales in 1968, she became a store manager. She moved to Crate’s corporate headquarters in 1972. She took over merchandising in 1975, rising to executive vice president of merchandising and marketing until 1996, when Segal named her president, a title she will retain.
As for going green, Crate has got a head start. It got rid of packing peanuts in 2006 and has been moving to eco-friendly catalog practices for years. Last year, it advertised its sustainable furniture in national magazines and just recently created a section on its Web site to tout its green strategy.
Crate is introducing more sustainable upholstery and chair frames, using soy- and corn-based foam for its cushions, offering barware out of recycled glass and relying on bamboo, one of the world’s most replenishable plants, in everything from dining tables to cutting boards.
To be sure, Crate is not alone. The green trend is happening industrywide from Pottery Barn to Wal-Mart. Can Crate’s history as a trend-spotter and retailer with an eye for detail allow it do it any better?
“To be a successful retailer, you have to have something unique,” said Turf. “Our mission is to have the product stand on its own.”
