Crate & Barrel is a chain of American retail stores, based in Northbrook, Illinois, specializing in housewares, furniture (indoor and out), and home accessories. It started in 1962 with Gordon and Carole Segal in Chicago, Illinois. Today there are over 145 stores in the United States. Crate & Barrel has two sister stores. CB2 is geared toward young people who are on the move. The Land of Nod is for children.

The first store opened in response to a flourishing of world trade in home furnishings due to the 1962 Kennedy Agreements. The Segals sought out small European companies that were not represented in America and negotiated direct purchases from these factories that could be sold to the consumer while avoiding a wholesaler's markup. To this day, a majority of Crate & Barrel's products are direct imports from Europe, though Thai, Mexican and Indian glass and textiles can also be found in their stores.

The Segals derived the company name by the materials that they originally used to display items in their Chicago store. They turned over the crates and barrels that the merchandise came in, let the wood excelsior spew out, and stacked up the china and glass. This helped emphasize their strongest selling point that their products were direct imports.

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