Calico

A while ago I decided to order some custom bedding after years of buying off the rack items at chain stores. I decided to stop in at Calico and had a great experience. They have so many beautiful fabrics in the store. My salesperson was very helpful as to what kinds of fabrics would be best for bedding. She took her time working with me and made tasteful suggestions for fabrics that would work well with my existing headboard. The duvet and pillows turned out beautifully. The quality is so much nicer than anything I’ve bought from a department store. Recently, I went back to Calico to look at custom, motorized shades for some hard to reach windows. I worked again with the same salesperson, Debby, and she was awesome. She knows her stuff but isn’t too pushy. She came to my home to match colors and pick out options. The installation was fast and professional and my husband and I are so happy with the end result.

I’ve never written a bad review for any other company in my life, but I’ve never dealt with a company as awful as Calico. I ordered drapes and shades for three rooms from them. Debby the salesperson had no idea what she was doing and gave me incorrect information on at least five different occasions. When I finally decided to order from them, Debby tried to increase the cost by an astronomical amount between quote and measure (like not even in the same ballpark). Since then, everything has been incredibly delayed. And now they are here to install and it turns out they ordered the wrong rods. To make matters worse, their customer service is just atrocious. No apologies. Nothing to make it right. Trust me, these are not the people you want to be giving your business to.

I am very disappointed with the services I received here. I am an intern at a nearby restaurant and we needed fabric from calico in order to build custom acoustic panels to help with noise complaints that are hurting our business.
The first time I visited the store no one acknowledged my presence. After about 5 minutes of looking around I approached two sales associates for help, they were not very happy. The reluctantly helped me find a few books that had grey fabrics to match the paint color.
The next time I came into the store, about five minutes later, they greeted me because they knew I actually planned to make a purchase. We had chosen three samples that would work but after researching on the computer they realized that the company did not actually carry the samples they had provided me with. They ended up only have two options for grey fabric which were way over the restaurants budget, but we were desperate so we picked the least expensive of the two. We also paid for overnight shipping which was $ 70 extra per 10 yards. We need about 20 yards so we paid a ton extra. We ordered the fabric on Friday.
Yesterday (Monday) evening I received a call from the company who is designing our panels saying that they had still not received our fabric order. This is unacceptable as we paid for overnight shipping, and the order should have been delivered on Saturday. I then called Calico who told me they would need to talk to their head quarters and would call back as soon as they figured out what had happened. I had still not heard anything 45 minutes later so I called to follow up. When I finally reached the person who was helping with our order she hung up on me. I then sent my boss into the store and they told us they would give us free overnight shipping because they had never actually ordered the fabric. The fabric should be arriving today.
The only reason I am giving two stars instead of one is because they offered to pay for our overnight shipping but this totally pushed back the timeline of these panels. We had explained to them on the first day that this project was extremely important, and they fell through. We will not be doing business with them again.

I so want to like Calico Corner — nice fabrics, good looking displays, and the designer is very helpful. Unfortunately the rest of the sales staff is not helpful being very busy with nearly anything else to do. You can get help, but it takes work. And then there’s the craftsmanship — not so good. Of three shade and cushion orders with them, I had to have half the shades returned and reworked in one order (then they wanted to charge me to reinstall but we worked that out) and all the window coverings in another order reworked as well. And their prices are not all that reasonable, especially given the effort to get the work done properly. Admittedly the work is always done properly in the end, but really, shouldn’t a company get it right the first time? Although I don’t seem to learn quickly I have now — I won’t be disappointed again.

Agree with other reviews. I have walked in here several times over the last 3 years. Always the clear sense that the staff were annoyed by my presence. I come by because of the beautiful fabric, but leave without purchasing because of the customer service. One time I did encounter a lady who wanted to be pleasant and sell me something– I think her name was Mary Anne.
Others are awful. Women literally not looking up from their binders when I enquire about purchasing at the central workstation in there. Wanted to buy a swath of fabric and get the edges sewn. ‘That’s not something we offer here. Read the sheet.’. I did see them talking pleasantly once to a customer; she matched their demographics completely, and the conversation revolved around athletics at New Trier HS.
For the record, I dress like a normal adult, speak pleasantly and use deodorant. And I have found other places to purchase what I have needed. (Yet they cover the Northshore with mailed-​in coupons).
I suggest reading the reviews for other locations of this company in the greater Chicago area for more info.

I wanted to order roman shades and possibly reupholster a chair with Calico in Wilmette. I called them twice in a week for a quote and to set up in home design service. They always made me feel like I was bothering them and rushed me off the phone. Then when I got the quote, they were going to charge me $ 400 to measure and install two roman shades! That price is ridiculous! They would not willing to negotiate this price. They said it was their «Chicago rate»! I called Smith+Noble and they only charge $ 99 for installation of up to 6 windows and they measure for free. The Shade Store only charges between $ 75 to $ 150. Why are they charging 3 – 4 times their competitors?
Needless to say I went somewhere else and was able to place my order before hearing back from Calico about an in home design appt.

Calico did a custom drapery installation for our new home. The curtains dragged on our floor. They took them back to trim, telling us it would take one week, maybe two, and it’s now been two and a half weeks. We’ve paid them in full. Still waiting. Not happy.

I like this place! They really have an all inclusive atmosphere which works well because of the classic designs. Some of it’s too traditional for me but they have a lot of nice things and a whole selection of furniture so they’ll upholster the piece in 8 – 12 weeks. I haven’t gone through the whole process but from what I’ve seen in the selection phase its looking good.