EXHIBIT 24.1

                                POWER OF ATTORNEY

      KNOW ALL PERSONS BY THESE PRESENTS, that the undersigned director and/or
officer of Anixter International Inc., a Delaware corporation (the
"Corporation"), which is about to file an annual report pursuant to Section 13
or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, on Form 10-K,
hereby constitutes and appoints Dennis Letham, Terry Faber and John Dul, and
each of them as his or her true and lawful attorney-in-fact and agent, with full
power and all capacities, to sign the Corporation's Form 10-K and any and all
amendments thereto, and any other documents in connection therewith, to be filed
with the Securities and Exchange Commission, granting unto said
attorneys-in-fact and agents full power and authority to do and perform each and
every act and thing requisite and necessary to be done in and about the
premises, as fully to all intents and purposes as she or he might or could do in
person, hereby ratifying and confirming all that said attorneys-in-fact agents
or their substitutes may lawfully do or cause to be done by virtue hereof.

      IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the undersigned has hereunto set his or her hand and
seal as of the 23rd day of February, 2005.

/s/ Lord James Blyth               /s/ Stuart M. Sloan
/s/ Robert L. Crandall             /s/ Thomas C. Theobald
/s/ Robert W. Grubbs               /s/ Mary Agnes Wilderotter
/s/ F. Philip Handy                /s/ Matthew Zell
/s/ Melvyn N. Klein                /s/ Samuel Zell
/s/ George Munoz