Sue Gartner. Photos: Chris Emeott
The high point of many HGTV home shows is the grand reveal. The mess and stress of remodeling are resolved, the music swells and homeowners are welcomed back to a new, well-appointed space, bringing design dreams to life.
“I tell clients, ‘Delivery day from Crown is the only day that is anything like HGTV,’” says Brandi Hagen, owner and principal designer of Eminent Interior Design. “Delivery day is super important to us, and that’s what Crown does. They make delivery day happen.”
Owned by Sue Gartner, Crown Warehouse & Delivery Services features a 48,000-square-foot warehouse in Plymouth that receives and delivers furniture for interior designers across Minnesota. “It is a specialty that, unless you’re in the industry, you maybe didn’t know existed,” Hagen says. “But a good receiving warehouse, a white glove receiving warehouse for an interior design firm is mandatory.”
Crown has been operating for the past 20 years, with Gartner taking over in 2020. Her background as an interior designer provides her with an insider’s look into the needs of the designers. “We receive furniture in every day, and then we open it, inspect it, tag it and receive it into our warehousing program,” Gartner says. “Then we store it until the home is ready for it.”
“When I design something, and I present it to a homeowner, I’m buying things from all over the world,” Hagen says. A single room could feature 20 different vendors. “I’m not going to, for my client’s sake, have everything show up one thing at a time,” she says.
While avoiding a piecemeal approach for projects, the team intercepts imperfections at the jump. “[Crown will] send me photos if there’s any damage that we can have touched up … or reject it if it’s not right,” Hagen says.
When it’s time, the Crown team loads deliveries onto trucks and alerts the design team that they’re on the way. “Sometimes, if it’s a small delivery, I’ll send a sketch of where it goes,” Hagen says. “I trust the Crown guys to go into the home and to do it—a white glove delivery.”
Crown Warehouse & Delivery Services
1000 Berkshire Lane N. # 11, Plymouth
Facebook: Crown Warehouse & Delivery Service, Inc.
Instagram: @crown_warehouse_and_delivery
