Crate and Barrel comes to the Fashion Mall

I caught wind of this a few weeks ago, because my friend Jason works for the construction company that will be building the new store: the IndyChannel is reporting that a Crate and Barrel Store will be going into the location of the the recently vacated for new digs TGIFridays restaurant at Keystone at the Crossing. Because that mall (and that tiny little area) isn’t nearly crowded enough as it is.


Crate and Barrel, for the two of you who don’t already get the catalog, is a specialty furniture store along the lines of two others at the Fashion (some say Fascist) Mall, Pottery Barn and Restoration Hardware, although C&B specializes in contemporary styled items.
Currently the closest C&B store is in Chicago, which Indy natives have been known to trek to on occasion. I prefer going to IKEA myself, but I would caution you to never to that on Labor Day weekend, as the store is so full then that I’m certain it’s a fire hazard. Go on a weekday instead.

This Post Has 8 Comments

  1. Rachel Wolfe

    Can’t wait for C&B! Woo! My only trip to IKEA (Schaumburg/Chicago) was on the Saturday of Labor Day weekend, 2003. It was an absolute mob scene. What really got me was the oblivion of the parents pushing strollers — I don’t mind that you have strollers (or kids), just don’t be so ignorant of the general traffic flow. The prices were great and I found some cool stuff, so I’d like to go back to IKEA sometime, but definitely on a weekday.

  2. Steph Mineart

    Unlike Rachel, I do mind that you have strollers, and kids. 🙂 (Sorry, Jim & Brent!!) I have a pretty inconvenient phobia of crowds, and IKEA, although one of my favorite places, nearly killed me with how crowded it was in Labor Day 2004. I almost passed out in the middle of the store at one point.

  3. Michael Packer

    You kids need to get with the times! Crate & Barrel is so 80s and Ikea is now passe as the 90s have left us. It’s all about West Elm nowadays. http://www.westelm.com

  4. Steph Mineart

    Whatever, Mike. It’s basically the same stuff. Although IKEA tends to be the cheapest of the three contemporary style stores. C&B will probably win for proximity, for me.

  5. Rachel Wolfe

    Crowds don’t bother me, per se — it’s crowds of ignorant morons that bother me. Important distinction. Every once in a while I come across a particularly ignorant crowd, and my IKEA trip was one of those times — another was my last trip to the Central Park Zoo, omg. And I do love West Elm…it’s more expensive than IKEA, but I think it’s better made, in some ways…

  6. Matt Barton

    Why aren’t any of these stores opening downtown? It is not as if there aren’t people living in this part of town who decorate their homes with Pottery Barn, C&B, Houseworks, IKEA, etc. Yes, I do admit that a large part of me simply hates going ot the north side for anything.

  7. Rachel Wolfe

    It’ll happen eventually, I think. People are just starting to move downtown again, after a long period where it was a ghost town after 6:00 p.m. And with major building projects like the Market Square Towers (or whatever they’re called) and the canal condos, there will be a push by new yuppie residents for some nearby conveniences, like a good grocery store…

  8. Steph Mineart

    But people aren’t “just starting” to move downtown. The rush to back-to-downtown-living started in the early nineties, and hit a full-on jetstream in 2000 when Fall Creek Place broke ground. There are houses in my neighborhood going for $350,000 or more, and in old northside for $700,000. That’s far past due for a decent grocery and discount store. I’d say that’s a serious failure in city planning efforts.

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.