? about buying Lee furniture from Crate & Barrel

15 years ago

After reading so many positive things about Lee sofas I'm considering purchasing one.

Can Crate and Barrel order any Lee sofa or do they just carry specific models? I like the slipcovered L shaped sectional on the Lee website but don't see it on the Crate & Barrel Website.

There aren't really any other Lee retailers close to me (and the Crate & barrel furniture store is 20 miles away) so I don't want to make a trip down there unless I'll be able to place an order.

Any advice from those who have purchased Lee from Crate & Barrel would be appreciated.

Thanks!

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Comments (5)

ttodd
15 years ago
You can only purchase the pieces from Crate & Barrel that they have chosen to carry to represent their style. Home Decor buying pretty much follows Fashion buying: the stores decide & purchase what they will carry up to 2 years in advance of it arriving in their store. Some stores even carry the exact same pieces by the same manufacturer w/ different names & price ranges.

I would definitely give Lee a call though and ask. Have style &/or model # ready in hand & tell them that you are interested in possibly purchasing it.
flyingflower
15 years ago
Crate & Barrel must have a deal with Lee, they make a minor tweak to the sofa or chair so the name of the piece can change. That way it's harder for customers to comparison shop. You have to ask which pieces are made by Lee, C&B doesn't mention it on the tag. What I did was print the sofas & chairs I liked on Lee's website and brought that with me to C&R. Then I matched up as best I could to what they had on the floor. What you're basically trying to do is find a comperable sofa at C&B that has the same depth, length, height, etc of the one you like on Lee's website. That should give you a pretty good idea what the one you order will be like. I found all of Lee's sofas to be too shallow in the seat except for one large sectional (101"?) that was so long it wouldn't fit in my living room.

Have you seen the Baldwin sectional sofa at Macys? It's slipcovered, has lots of options for building the sectional, is made in the USA by a quality company, and looks like a Lee sofa. That's the one I ended up buying after none of the Lee or C&B sofas met all my criteria. Another forum member has this sofa, she bought hers from another store so the company that makes it offers it through different retailers. She loves her sofa too. Something to consider if you're in the market for a slipcovered sofa and haven't found exactly what you want. You don't say where in CA you live so Macys might not work for you either but it can't hurt to mention it. There's not a lot of slipcovered furniture out there.

Here is a link that might be useful: Baldwin sofa
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california_dreamer
Original Author
15 years ago
Thanks for the tips and the link. Is that Baldwin Sofa made by Jonathan Louis? (I know lots of Macys stuff is). I like the way it looks so I'll have to see if they have it on the floor at my Macys.
I guess I'll take the info from the Lee website and head out to Crate & Barrel to compare. Thanks for the advice on that! Why is buying furniture so difficult?!
ttodd
15 years ago
Before you make the drive (unless you really want to) I'd suggest calling Lee Customer Service or Crate & Barrel Customer Service 1st & ask them if they carry or distribute that particular style.

Should be an easy enough question for them to answer. I'd start w/ Lee since they are the manufacturer.
marymt
15 years ago
Funny I didn't find this thread when I searched the other day....I've been looking at the very sectional that flyingflower bought. The Macy's salesman told me it's made by Modern Concepts (McCreary), and there are none on the floor anywhere in the DC area. He can't show me swatches -- so it's just like buying online, sight unseen. I'm glad to read so many good reviews of it.

Flyingflower, I'm trying to find out what paint colors would go with that butter-yellow fabric, as well as the Patricia Spa Sunflower print on the chair. Do you know? I emailed the others who bought it in 2006, but so far, no one who has it in the stock yellow color.

? about buying Lee furniture from Crate & Barrel

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