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How I Built This with Guy Raz

Crate & Barrel: Gordon Segal

How I Built This with Guy Raz

Guy Raz | Wondery

Business

4.831.1K Ratings

🗓️ 20 February 2017

⏱️ 31 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In 1962, Gordon Segal — with his wife Carole — opened a scrappy Chicago shop called Crate & Barrel. That store turned into a housewares empire that has shaped the way Americans furnish their homes. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Transcript

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0:00.0

Hey, Prime Members, you can listen to how I built this early and ad-free on Amazon Music.

0:07.0

Download the app today.

0:09.0

New Year's is here, and with it brings the possibility of change.

0:13.0

As one behavioral scientist put it, first starts are really powerful.

0:17.0

So as you head into 2023, LifeKit is a great resource to help you plan your life and tackle changes, both big and small.

0:24.0

Listen to the LifeKit podcast from NPR.

0:27.0

Every store we open between our opening in 62, our first built store in 65, our Positol Agostone 68, our Oakberg store in 71,

0:40.0

every time was betting the company.

0:43.0

Every time. Every time.

0:46.0

And every time we knew if we failed, the company might go down.

0:50.0

From NPR, it's how I built this. A show about innovators, entrepreneurs, idealists, and the stories behind the movements they build.

1:08.0

I'm Guy Razz, and on today's show, the story of how Gordon Seagull and his wife Carol built the houseware's empire, Crate and Barrel.

1:16.0

From one little scrappy storefront in Chicago, and how that single shop helped change the way we furnish our homes and apartments.

1:29.0

So there's probably a good chance that you have a piece of IKEA furniture somewhere in your house or apartment.

1:36.0

And it probably looks pretty good, right? You know, nothing fancy, but functional, well designed, kind of European looking.

1:42.0

And the main thing is, it's affordable. But back in 1961, if you wanted vaguely European looking furniture or plates or whatever in America, you had to be rich.

1:56.0

And in 1961, Gordon Seagull and his wife Carol were definitely not.

2:02.0

We got married in the summer of 61. Now for our wedding gifts, we really didn't get any of the kinds of things we loved.

2:10.0

We'd shopped at department stores and see beautiful dance designs and a new Danish look and whatever.

2:16.0

And none of our relatives had the money or the taste to buy us those kind of wedding gifts.

2:23.0

So you just figured we just can't afford that, so yeah, so we'll just move on.

2:27.0

That's right. So we got married in, like I say, in June of 61, and we went on our honeymoon to the Caribbean.

...

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