The Syracuse Gift Basket Company Blog

Storage and workspace solutions - Part 3

2010-02-01T09:27:00.003-05:00

Balloons can get out of control if you don't have a good system for keep track of them. We store the mylar balloons in these clear plastic shoe boxes labeled by occasion - Thank you, Birthday, Get well, etc. The latex balloons are in one of those over the door shoe holders (you can see it in this picture to the right of the mylars on the door going into our kitchenette) with the clear plastic pockets - it's super easy to see what you have, and doesn't take up any floor space. The helium tank is lashed to the wall on the left of this, and the curling the ribbon is just a step away.

Storage and workspace solutions - Part 2

2010-01-29T14:03:00.004-05:00

Another item we struggled with was the rolls of bubble wrap we use in our shipping room. They are big - and we didn't have a good way to keep it handy for packing.

We created a giant spool by taking a cheap round outdoor patio table and gluing a piece of PVC pipe in the middle. It sits next to the packing table and you can feed the wrap out as you need it. It's so simple, but it works perfectly.

Storage and workspace solutions - Part 1

2010-01-28T14:43:00.005-05:00

(Okay, Gift Basket Guru - the next few posts are for you. :-)

This is a pic of our main production area that we just relocated to a bigger room. There are a few good, stealable ideas you can see in this shot:

1. The worktables: Most of us in the biz use those 6ft lightweight plastic folding tables for a workspace - but they need to be brought up to counter height. When we started, we used to put them up on cement blocks. It worked, but they were a pain in the butt to lug around and sometimes we are setting up and taking down tables when big projects come up and at Christmas. One of my seasonal helpers showed us a better solution - PVC pipe fitted onto the legs. You can get them at Home Depot or Lowe's and they will cut them for you - about 12inch lengths should do it. MUCH easier.

2. The work station: A "U" or an "L" shaped configuration is the most efficient, especially if you can manage an island in the middle. Its a basic tenet of lean manufacturing. .

3. Ribbon storage: Gutters! Lightweight, cheap, easy, and everything is right in front of you.

4. Shredded paper: We buy crinkle cut shred in 40 pound boxes. It's cheaper that way, but they are huge. We store them in those big plastic bins under the worktable (and we finally got around to labeling them).

5. Cleanliness: Make your life easier and put a trash bin under each and every table. You may think that it will be okay if it's only a few steps away - but trust me...your space will be much neater if you do this.

More improvements...

2010-01-22T09:19:00.003-05:00

Every new year I vow to fix all the nagging little (and big) issues with the business, and this year is no exception. We solved a bunch of them this week:

1. Producing gift baskets creates all sorts of weird storage issues...like where to keep multiple rolls of shrink wrap so they are visible and don't roll all over the place when you're trying to use them. You can mount racks on the walls, but I didn't have enough available wall space and many of our walls are difficult to mount anything to because of the concrete. I figured out a cheap and easy fix - paper towel holders (see above). The are accessible and I can easily see what we're running low on.

2. I finally hooked up an iPod to pipe music into our showroom and production area. Now we listen to "smooth jazz" instead of some lame radio station...and no commercials! I can't believe I didn't do this sooner.

3. Our building is like a big shoebox - a long rectangle. There is quite a distance from the front door to the rooms in the back, plus there are a lot of concrete walls in between. We often didn't hear customers and delivery people when they came in despite our clumsy temporary fix - a set of wind chimes attached to the door. I was looking at door chimes in a retail supply catalog, but found a cheaper solution (30 bucks!) - a driveway sensor. It's meant to alert you when a car passes the sensor in your driveway, but it works great here - and I can hear it from anywhere in the building.

It's the little things that make me happy...LOL.

(I do realize that this is probably only of interest to someone else in the business - but I know we have a few who read this blog :-)

New sign

2010-01-21T11:29:00.001-05:00

Check out our nifty new sign! I was looking for an "Open" sign that lights up to put in our front window, and ran across this.

Changes for the New Year

2010-01-20T10:47:00.003-05:00

Well, we survived our first holiday season in our new location.

In some ways, the new spot on Erie Blvd is better - it's more visable and much easier access...WAY better for our customers. Behind the scenes, it was not so good. Our old space was wide open - we could divide it up however we wanted and change it as our needs changed. This building is split up into rooms, which turned out to a bigger issue than I had anticipated, even though we have more square footage. Being super-busy will amplify everything you are doing wrong - and we spent a lot of time running around in circles this year. It became very obvious that we needed to make some adjustments.

We made a minor change in the showroom to make it flow better, and some major ones in our workspace - we moved our production area into a different room, removed some doors, and came up with a better system for handling our shipping and receiving. I also acquired my new favorite toy - a shopping cart! Not for our customers (we're not that kind of store), but for us.

Back when she started with us, Laura suggested a shopping cart for collecting all the stuff that go into the baskets. I lost track of the idea until this Christmas when my boyfriend brought it up again after watching me take 10 trips into the inventory room just to collect everything I needed to make something. I found a company that would sell just one - and it arrived last week. I LOVE IT!

Round 1

2009-11-09T09:19:00.000-05:00

The first round of gifts - 92 - is heading out the door today.

Project #2

2009-11-04T09:54:00.001-05:00

No rest for the wicked....we are diving into our next big project. 40 down, 165 to go...

The first wave

2009-10-29T06:57:00.001-04:00

We have a tractor trailer coming today to pick up the first wave of gifts - 9 pallets wrapped and ready to go. I was a little worried about having the space to get these together, but it all worked out fine.

A New Skill

2009-10-28T07:26:00.001-04:00

We learned how to wrap boxes on a pallet yesterday...and discovered that, YES, we can actually fit these things out the door.

The Home Stretch

2009-10-28T07:20:00.002-04:00

The boxes are snaking down the hallway...we're running out of room!

But the client stopped in yesterday and checked on our progress, and they were totally thrilled. If the program is successful, the next time around it will be about 2000 gifts. Yikes!

We are contemplating warehouse space and World Basket Domination....LOL.

Update, Part 3

2009-10-26T09:02:00.002-04:00

And many, many more that still need to be shrink wrapped and bowed. We had a potential crisis yesterday that halted production, but luckily it turned out to be a false alarm. Onward and upward...

Update, Part 2

2009-10-26T09:00:00.001-04:00

We've got about 250 gifts completed and in various stages of production. These are waiting to packed.

Update from the SGB Annex

2009-10-26T08:58:00.002-04:00

We had busy productive weekend at SGB, and we're at about the halfway point with our project. The first wave of baskets are boxed, labeled and ready to go out.

The Basket Factory

2009-10-22T09:50:00.002-04:00

We've had a productive couple days at our satellite location, aka "The Basket Factory". The first 100 baskets are complete and have moved into the shrink wrap area. Thankfully, all the unexpected kinks in the project have been worked out, the rest of our materials have finally arrived, and we're moving full-speed ahead. 540 gifts in 2 weeks? No problem!

Of Mice and Men

2009-10-20T15:01:00.003-04:00

You know that saying about the best laid plans of mice and men going awry?

When we moved to our new space in the spring, we felt pretty confident that the extra square footage and a more easily accessible location would serve us well for at least the next few years.

A few months later, we are pretty well settled in and gearing up for our first holiday season in our new location. At this time of year, we are typically doing a lot of planning - creating holiday designs, lining up extra inventory, and enjoying some free time before the holiday onslaught.

We were surprised (and thrilled!) when we landed 2 large and unexpected new orders, due within a week of each other and both on VERY short notice. We went from being pretty happy with our new space to looking around going, "Really? WHERE ON EARTH are we going to put all this stuff????"

But, we've never backed down from a challenge (like the year we outgrew our original downtown location....but that's another story). We contacted the building manager in our old place on Teall Avenue and rented extra space for the holidays. This will be our satellite location for the next couple of months, devoted entirely to our larger corporate orders. The inventory and supplies have started to arrive, and we are getting ready to start working on the first order - 540 baskets, due in less than 2 weeks, and packed to ship - on pallets no less, which is a first for us.

The picture above is one of our new work rooms - the calm before the storm!

Central NY Products

2009-07-22T12:19:00.002-04:00

We recently set up a display showcasing the many local products we carry.

Custom Gift - Survival Kits

2009-07-21T16:10:00.003-04:00

These cute bags were delivered to the Turning Stone over the weekend for a conference - the theme was "Survive and Thrive".

June Basket of the Month winner - CallieAnn Pappastavrou

2009-07-17T14:14:00.002-04:00

Congratulations to CallieAnn Pappastavrou, the winner of the June basket of the month drawing!

BBQ season is here!

2009-07-08T16:12:00.002-04:00

While the Dinosaur might be the most well-known BBQ joint around here, they are definitely not the only game in town when it comes to sensational sauces and seasonings to add to your grill this summer.

Local entrepreneurs have created all kinds of yummy things - Tom's Bootleg BBQ, Juanita's Soul Classics and Yellow Dog are a few great sauces, and Yellow Dog also makes a wing sauce and a dry rub. If you want a change of pace, try Mare-o-Lin's Chili sauce or Salamida's Spiedie sauce.

I've been a die-hard Dinosaur fan for years, but I have to admit - I LOVE the Yellow Dog.

They say variety is the spice of life....and that's especially true on the grill. ;-)

Pics....continued

2009-06-30T15:38:00.001-04:00

New store pics...interior

2009-06-30T15:37:00.001-04:00

Not that different from our old showroom....the difference is in the "behind the scenes" parts of the store.

New Closeout Gifts!

2009-06-15T16:34:00.002-04:00

When you relocate your business, a funny thing happens...all sorts of odd bits and pieces turn up. Containers left over from big projects, off-season inventory that got lost in the shuffle and things we just plain bought too much of (6 cases of stuffed gorillas? Really? What was I thinking????). And often, our vendors will discontinue an item in one of our standard gifts, which forces us to redesign it - which in turn leaves us with orphan inventory.

Now that things are getting back to normal, we had time to create some fun, creative gifts using up some of that inventory - and we've added them to our "Closeout Gifts" section at deep discounts...at or below cost.

We've added some beautiful new gifts to our regular catalog as well - take a look!

Signs

2009-06-09T12:13:00.002-04:00

...and we finally have a number on the building. We appreciate everyone's patience in tracking us down at our new location.

Our new signs are up!

2009-06-09T12:08:00.002-04:00

Absolute Sign and Awning did a TERRIFIC job on our new signage! Thanks Corinna!

Landscaping

2009-06-03T13:26:00.004-04:00

As we wind down the last of our projects inside the building (and the last of the frost warnings...hopefully), we're starting to tackle the outside. I spent last weekend pulling up 2 foot tall weeds, lugging in soil, and planting new shrubs and perennials in the front of the store. This weekends project: start working on the area that runs the whole length of the building along our parking lot.

May Gift Basket Winner - Christine Praino

2009-06-01T10:10:00.002-04:00

Congratulations to Christine Praino!

Once a month we draw a gift basket winner from our email newsletter subscriber list. It's easy to subscribe - just enter your email address in the "Join our mailing list" box at the bottom of every page of our website, and click "GO".

We promise we won't flood your inbox - we send newsletters out 4-6 times a year, and it's super-easy to unsubscribe if you change you mind.

10 Things I Love About Our New Store (and counting!)

2009-05-02T22:52:00.003-04:00

1. We have the whole building. It's Syracuse Gift Basket world!
2. The bathrooms, and the shower! No more sharing and running out of TP and paper towels.
3. Lots of padded carpeting...so much easier on the feet and back.
4. It looks like us, inside and out. The owner allowed us to paint, and use our corporate colors. And there is a place to put in landscaping.
5. Windows everywhere!
6. It feels really cozy.
7. More space and a basement.
8. Only minutes from everything in the city.
9. Easy to get in and out of the parking area.
10. And, less expensive...how can you beat that?

It's beginning to feel like home...

2009-04-28T20:13:00.002-04:00

Today was definitely bettter. It might have been LOTS better if the illustrious cable company had actually changed our service over! Julie called in MARCH and set up the change for the Friday before our move. Now, however, the company insists that it can't be done until May 1st. The logistics of this whole scenario are daunting. The phones and computers are still in the old store on Teall, so that's where everything is coming in. Consequently, several times over the day one of us runs back to the old store to check e-mails, and the business calls are being forwarded temporarily to Julie's cell. (And we need this while we try to finish unpacking and set up our business???) Trying to keep the flow going with things going every which way is a little insane, but we are hanging tough... just like we always do. ( I believe I mentioned before that we are gritty.) But, two more days of this? It boggles the mind!

On the positive side, our showroom is put together and looking fab! "Mr. Scott" laid the great-looking new floor in the entranceway this morning, we hung the new window treatments, and Julie is arranging the finishing decor on the walls. Somehow we have even managed to have the shelves full of GIFTS! The production room is put together and adequately functioning, the inventory room and basket/box rooms are organized and stocked (much thanks to Laura) and the breakroom is set up. Shipping is a bit haphazard yet, and we still have a small amount of painting and rehab to complete in the back. It has been a little mind-bending going from the high-ceilinged pie shape of our old space to our new squared and compartmentalized layout. But we're managing to rethink everything, and overall we've accomplished miracles!

But best of all, our new space is really starting to feel great. It's cozier and feels like a place we really want to be. It's beginning to feel like home!

What have we gotten ourselves into????

2009-04-27T11:09:00.002-04:00

We made the big move over the weekend - we are officially open at 1015 Erie Blvd East. This is what the space looked like when we we got everything over there - yikes! We've got our work cut out for us.

We've got the important parts of the building functional - but just barely. There are a few remodeling projects still left to do, and we haven't touched the landscaping or settled on permanant signage. We have a paver coming today to look at sealing and striping the parking lot; also, someone was kind enough to dump a load of garbage and construction debris in our parking lot last night (because we don't enough of our own stuff to handle right now....seriously???).

But, we sent our first few gifts out from the new location this morning, and we're looking foward to making ourselves at home in our new space.

Coming up for air

2009-04-22T14:26:00.002-04:00

Whew.....it's been a crazy couple of weeks. We've been working our butts off to get the inside of our new building ready for the big move this weekend. Like any big project, things popped up that we hadn't expected - plumbing issues, replacing the hot water heater, and a leaky roof. Luckily, our new landlords have been fantastic partners in resolving the problems.

We've gotten most of the interior painting done (17 gallons of paint later), with the exception of some trim touch up and a couple of the bathrooms. The carpets have been steam cleaned, the kitchenette installed, and we're almost ready to go!

In the midst of all this, we had a large corporate order (118 pieces) to get out on Monday, and Administrative Professional's Day to get through (usually our biggest holiday next to Christmas). As the day winds down and the last minute gifts go out, we're turning our focus to packing up the store and making our move.

So Excited!!!

2009-04-21T19:02:00.003-04:00

Short bulletin from The Paint Pit: We've finished the inside painting and cleaning, and Mr. Scott has finished most of his repair work. On Sunday Scott painted the exterior of the new store our own lovely shade of sage green. He calls it "pea soup green", but no matter..... we LOVE it! The finishing plum trim will happen on the next dry day, and will finish the look.

We are SO EXCITED! The results of our month of hard work is so very gratifying, and we're ready to move...in only a few more days. Our large order has gone out the door, and we're really scrambling to do Secretary's Day. But after tomorrow, we can begin moving in the direction of our new "home" at 1051 Erie Boulevard East. We are SO ready! After another long weekend of work, we will open our newly painted doors on Monday, April 27. We look forward to seeing friends and customers there!

The Paint Pit

2009-04-10T22:26:00.004-04:00

It sounded like a good idea when we started...after all it was wide open space. How hard could it really be to paint the interior of the new store ourselves??? Armed with gallons and gallons of paint in our signature colors, new brushes, rollers, drop clothes, and miles of bright blue tape, we attacked our newly acquired 2300 square foot facility with determination and boundless enthusiasm. Working around both of our full-time jobs and the rest of our lives, and painting in our "spare time" wouldn't be easy, but we had no doubt that we would be able to do it. Bring it on!

Okay....three weeks and counting later, I have to tell you that the paint thing is getting old, REALLY OLD! Yes, we've made great progress, and the end is in sight. And yes, the space IS transformed. BUT, there are 9 rooms, 3 bathrooms, a kitchenette, several closets, and various other nooks and crannies we keep discovering. Every room has needed 2 coats of paint, and some 3. And we won't even mention the BIG MISTAKE room (the largest room, of course) which on the first try came out an unfortunate shade of chartreuse or butter cup yellow, depending on the light. It really was NOT okay.

So as we approach the finish line in the "paint pit", with Secretary's Day, a large corporate project, AND moving day all happening within the next 2 weeks...we just look at each other and say, "please God, just let us be finished!"

And then there is the EXTERIOR....

Weekend Progress Report

2009-03-23T16:16:00.002-04:00

We spent the weekend at the new store, painting and cleaning the inside - made very good progress. 2 rooms are completely done, and a good chunk of the showroom and main hallway are in various stages of completion. The kids came in for a few hours and raked the glass and other debris out of the future flower beds and cleaned many, many years worth of grime off the windows. That's my son Nick, being a goofball. :-)

Let the fun begin!

2009-03-20T15:11:00.003-04:00

Well, we signed the lease for our new building earlier in the week and got the key. Whoo-hoooo!

We can't wait to get in and start cleaning and painting, but the first order of business was getting the water turned back on. Sounds simple, right? Unfortunately, since the building has been vacant for years we had some issues.

This space has 3 bathrooms (1 was hidden in a closet and we didn't know about it until we took possesion!), inluding 1 with a shower (not sure what we'll do with that, but I bet it will come in handy during the Christmas season). All 3 sinks were leaking; 1 toilet was stuck in a continuous flush mode; 1 wouldn't flush at all. So, we were forced to turn the water back off and wait for the plumber today. 6 hours later, we're good to go.

This building was actually scheduled to be demolished, because the owners were unable to find a long term tenant until we came along at the 11th hour. Because of this, they had to test all surfaces for asbestos. Now, the building is not in bad shape at all - but in each room there is 1 or 2 missing ceiling tiles, a corner of carpet is pulled up, and floor tiles are missing. There are also some vintage flourescent lights that are not very pretty, plus several years worth of dirt. I have to admit, I had more than a few "What have we gotten ourselves into????" moments this week.

But - the weekend is here, and we've got our paint and supplies, and my favorite handyman "Mr. Scott" is meeting us there tomorrow to get started. We can't wait!

Custom Gift Basket - The Zoo Basket

2009-03-16T11:33:00.002-04:00

This super-cute custom gift was ordered by one of our regular corporate clients to be donated to the Boys and Girls Club for their 2009 Bids for Kids Auction.

New Building - After

2009-03-12T14:09:00.002-04:00

This is our Photoshop version of our building with the addition of a new color scheme and some landscaping. We should be getting started this weekend!

New building - Before

2009-03-12T14:02:00.003-04:00

This is our new building! It's in a fantastic location for us - closer to SU, downtown and the hospitals and as a bonus has good visibility from 690. It has a lot more square footage and is significantly less expensive than our current space....you can't hate that, right?

It might not look like much now (we like to think of it as a blank slate), but we'll be working our magic - and documenting the progress here - over the next 6 weeks while we prepare for the big move.

We found Chris Dardano!

2009-03-11T11:48:00.001-04:00

Our January gift basket winner finally came in and claimed his gift (we were getting worried about him). Congratulations to Chris Dardano of Eldan Homes!

Anyone who signs up for our email newsletter is eligable, and we'll be drawing our February winner later today.

We're moving!

2009-03-10T18:29:00.002-04:00

It's official....we're moving! Stay tuned for details....

Our (almost) movie

2009-02-22T08:42:00.008-05:00

After 2 1/2 years of waiting and wondering, we finally got to see "The Great Buck Howard" ("The Craziest Story", July 2006). It's due to be released in theatres on March 20, but you can watch it on VOD right now.

We knew it was a long shot - we didn't pay for the product placement in the movie, so we knew that the gifts could be cut; we knew that it was a struggle to find a distributer for the movie and get it released, and we knew that our contact at Walden Media wasn't involved in the final editing.

As it turns out, a couple of our baskets are in the movie - but they are not identified in any way. The part with the delivery person wearing our apron did not make the final cut. The gifts are in the background of a couple scenes, but nobody but us would know they came from our company.

We're not really as disappointed as we thought we would be....there was such a lag between when we did this project and seeing the end results, that it's just not a big deal anymore - kind of anticlimactic. We were chatting about it after we watched it, and we realized that a lot of really positive things came out the experience:

1. We developed a much better way to ship our gifts - they arrive in better condition than they used to, and we eliminated the use of styrofoam packing peanuts (which we hated - and I'm sure everyone else did too)

2. We started rethinking our gift designs, and it sparked new ideas for our standard website gifts
3. We streamlined our operations and worked on becoming more efficient. It started us on a path of continuous improvement.

4. It got us through some dark times. We went through a phase a couple of years ago where we both got really burned out and lost a lot of the passion we have for this business. Knowing that we had a possible "big break" coming up kept us going.

5. It prompted us to start this blog

6. When I flew out to California so that I could hand deliver the gifts to Premier Entertainment in L.A., I stayed with my uncle' and his family, who I don't get to see very often, and I spent some really good one on one time with my aunt Leslie. Within a year of my visit Leslie was diagnosed with cancer and passed away. If not for this unusual opportunity, it would have been years since I had seen her; I'm incredibly grateful for that time.

Was it a mistake? I don't think so...it was a really interesting experience. If you don't take a risk once in while, you don't get a chance to reap the rewards. No regrets!

And now? Well, we have some really good things cooking with the business.

Last year I hired 2 employees to help out with the day to day operations of the store, in preparation for me beginning another career. I just wasn't interested in doing this anymore. But a funny thing happened....

In training my new employees how to do everything I do, I began creating an operations manual, something I've been putting off for years. It was really important to me that customers who were used to dealing with me got the same consistant experience when talking to one of the girls. I came up with training exercises and quizes. I was forced to think about exactly how I wanted every task performed and to document it - which is a very good thing.

Once Jenny and Laura became a little more self sufficient, I was able to tackle some nagging projects that I just hadn't had the time to deal with before, and it felt good. One thing led to another, and pretty soon I realized that I was really enjoying my business again. Freeing myself up from performing every single task myself allowed me to focus on big picture planning, which is what, as the owner, I SHOULD be doing. I read "E-Myth" years ago (work ON your business not IN it), but it took preparing to leave my business for me to really do it.

That other career I was planning? On hold indefinitely. The enthusiasm I had for this in the beginning is back, plus some.

We have some big changes coming up in the next few months - stay tuned, we'll be announcing the details very soon!

Quote of the Week

2009-02-21T08:51:00.001-05:00

"Never underestimate the power of a woman."

Featured Product - BP Callahans Firehouse Sauce

2009-02-17T14:37:00.005-05:00

This pasta sauce is outstanding!

I really like to cook, so I NEVER use pasta sauce from the jar (my own is so much better), but BP Callahan's has become a favorite at our house.

It's something like a spicier, chunkier version of a classic vodka sauce (without the vodka) - tomatoes and cream, fresh basil and peppers. You can use it as a dipping sauce, over pasta, or with chicken or seafood.

My only complaint about this sauce (from a vendor standpoint) is that it isn't obvious from the label what to do with it - but it's been delicious on everything I've tried it with. Our current favorite is over cheese ravioli with grilled chicken - and don't forget some fresh Italian bread for dipping!

SGB is on Facebook!

2009-02-16T16:56:00.001-05:00

We've created a Facebook page for Syracuse Gift Basket - become a fan!

Valentine's Day

2009-02-12T18:42:00.002-05:00

The team at SGB has been very busy this week getting ready for Valentine's Day - here is a peek at the first wave of gifts going out tomorrow morning.

New trailer for The Great Buck Howard

2009-02-06T21:17:00.002-05:00

We just found a new, longer trailer for the "The Great Buck Howard" (see "The Craziest Story", July 2006) - take a look:

http://www.traileraddict.com/trailer/the-great-buck-howard/trailer-b

January Gift Basket Winner - Chris Dardano

2009-02-06T20:19:00.005-05:00

A few weeks ago we announced that we would be drawing a winner each month from our list of subscribers to the SGB email newsletter. Our very first winner is Chris Dardano, who is a new home specialist at Eldan Homes.

Congratulations Chris!

St. Baldrick's - March 22 at Kitty Hoyne's

2009-02-04T13:26:00.007-05:00

This is my sister, Jenna. Her entire life she's had beautiful, very long, thick dark blonde hair - and on March 22 at Kitty Hoyne's Irish Pub in Armory Square, she will be getting her head shaved - yes, SHAVED - to help raise money for the St. Baldrick's foundation.

I've been to a couple of St. Baldrick's events, and the scene is absolutely wild - Kitty Hoyne's is packed to the rafters with volunteer barbers and hairdressers, people lined up to have their heads shaved, and friends and family supporting the cause. It's like St. Patrick's day all over again (except people are bald when they leave the bar).

To date, St. Baldrick's has raised 50 million dollars to help fund childhood cancer research. To find out more or sponsor any of the "shavees", go to http://www.stbaldricks.org/.

10,000 visitors - whooo-hooooo!

2009-02-04T10:08:00.006-05:00

Webucator

2009-02-02T16:02:00.002-05:00

One of our most regular, ongoing corporate projects doesn't have anything to do with gift baskets.

Webucator is a Syracuse based company that offers online computer training. When a client signs up for a class, they are imediately sent the necessary materials - usually a computer headset, and sometimes a training manual, and some complementary goodies - a cup, pen and highlighter with their logo on it and some candy. When they approached us a couple of years ago, they were just putting the candy in a zip-lock bag, boxing it all and sending everything to the client. It worked, but the presentation wasn't great and they were getting too busy to keep up on it (it's a good problem to have!).

We came up with an easy, more attractive way to present the items: we put the pen and highlighter in the cup, filled the cup with assorted candy, dropped it in a cellophane bag and tied it up with orange and blue raffia (and the salesperson's business card) to coordinate with their corporate identity. They loved it! And best of all, they didn't have to worry about it anymore.

Now we have a separate area in our workroom devoted to Webucator, and we keep all their materials on hand to be shipped out at a moments notice.

Featured Product - DipStix

2009-01-31T10:57:00.005-05:00

DipStix is another one of our favorite local products. I met the owner, Mindy, a few years at a WBOC meeting when she was just getting started. In our business, the products we carry have to not only taste wonderful, but look great in our gifts too - and DipStix fit the bill perfectly.

DipStix are thick pretzel rods dipped in chocolate and rolled in yummy toppings like mini M&Ms, toffee, cashews, almonds or colored sprinkles. It's that salty-sweet combination again....you can't beat it.

We'll have samples in our store all this week. Stop by and try some - we guarantee you'll be hooked!

Quote of the Day

2009-01-29T21:01:00.005-05:00

"In the depth of winter, I finally found there was within me an invincible summer."

Albert Camus

About that movie...

2009-01-27T14:11:00.005-05:00

Obviously, with the release date of "The Great Buck Howard" coming up in less that 2 months, we're beyond anxious to find out about our basket placement in the film. While googling for information, I've come across several reviews...mostly good, some bad, some on the fence. One of the reviews I read (a good one) was written by a Las Vegas reviewer. I noticed at the bottom of her page that she "answers all e-mails". My curiousity got the best of me, and I e-mailed her, explaining our connection with the film. I was pleasantly surprised when she actually sent a reply. She said she wished I had contacted her sooner, since some time had passed since she saw the "The Great Buck Howard". Unfortunately she didn't remember that detail of the movie, but said it made sense since "Buck always liked his celebrity gifts". She wished us the best of luck, and wanted me to let her know how it all turned out. She also said she would try to find the director's e-mail, and shortly after that she did send it to me.

I hesitated for a few days, thinking that I really didn't have enough nerve to bother the director of the movie about our silly baskets. But in the end, I fired off an e-mail asking him our big question. Curiosity got the best of me, and after all, what do we have to lose? The worst that could happen is that he will ignore me.

I haven't received a response as yet, and really don't expect to, but at least I can say I tried. You know, it just shouldn't be this hard!!!

Monthly Basket Give Away at SGB

2009-01-26T14:52:00.003-05:00

You may have noticed that we recently added a "Join our Subscriber List" box to our main website - it's at the bottom of every page. If you sign up, you'll receive our email newsletter featuring new gifts, closeouts and private sales for subscribers only. We promise not clog up your inbox with these - we send them out just 5-10 times per year, and it's easy to opt-out at any time.

For added incentive, we'll be giving away a gift basket to one lucky person from our subscriber list each month. The basket will be a minimum $50 value, and the winner will be chosen at random. If you're already on our subscriber list you don't have to do a thing - you're all set. If not, just enter your email address and click "GO". We'll be drawing our first winner at the end of this week - Good luck!

Quote of the week

2009-01-24T20:58:00.001-05:00

"A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort. '

Herm Albright(1876 - 1944)

10,000

2009-01-24T14:32:00.009-05:00

We're amazed to note that we are fast-approaching the 10,000 mark on our visitor site-meter. Who-da thunk it when we started blogging about our "maybe movie" 2 1/2 years ago?

It's been fascinating to monitor our site-meter along the way, to see who's been on the blog, and when, from where, and how long they have stayed. Occasionally someone stopping in our shop tells us that they follow our blog, and we're always surprised. As we have recently picked up the pace again here, we're trying hard to keep it varied. Our primary focus is to write about anything interesting, funny, or newsworthy thats happening within our company....a peek behind the scenes.

But as we approach that 10,000 mark, we'd really like to hear from some of our visitors...especially those who stop by frequently. We welcome comments and questions.

Featured Product - NY Cherry Bliss

2009-01-23T15:33:00.004-05:00

I mentioned in a recent post that we picked up a lot of new locally made products; our best resource turned out to be Nelson Farms marketing group, which is a program of Morrisville College. If you have a family recipe you're interested in bringing to market, Nelson Farms will help you with packaging and production, and their newly formed marketing group helps distribute the products to businesses like ours. We were able to add about a dozen new local products to our inventory with one visit to their shop in Cazenovia.

One of the more unique items is NY Cherry Bliss. It's a trail mix, and includes NY grown cherries marinated in Brotherhood Spiced Wine (Brotherhood winery is located in Washingtonville, NY and is the oldest winery in the United States), almonds, pecans and white chocolate chips. The flavor is sweet, but not overly so. It's turned out to be a big hit with our customers!

Donation - On Point for College

2009-01-22T12:02:00.004-05:00

This basket was a recent donation we did for On Point for College. The rich brown magazine rack is filled with all kinds of decadent chocolate and will be used for their upcoming 10th Anniversary dinner and silent auction.

I met the founder of On Point for College a few years ago when we were working on forming the original WISE Advisory Board. When Ginny Donohue stood up and explained what On Point does for local kids, I swear I got goosebumps.

This is what they do:

* They begin with One-on-one counseling - choosing a college, financial aid, and college applications

* Take students on College Visits
* Connect them with Mentors
* Help with clothing, bedding, backpacks and college supplies
* Offer Transportation to college
* Provide an Orientation workshop before the first day of college.
* To help bridge the intimidating gap between financial aid and college costs, they offer students “last dollar” grants for expenses such as enrollment deposits, textbooks, fees, housing etc. Since 1999, more than 1,242 “last dollar” grants, totaling more than $168,372, have helped On Point for College students get to college or stay in college.
* Follow up with Advocacy and support for students on college campuses (i.e. financial aid, diversity issues, tutoring services, getting along with roommates, etc.)
* Offer Transportation to and from college on vacations

This is the impact that On Point has had:

* 1,710 students were actively involved with On Point for College, more than 1,070 were enrolled in 140 colleges and universities, and 125 had earned college degrees.
* A total of 2,040 young adults, age 17-25 had received one-on-one admission counseling from the On Point for College staff. An additional 160 volunteers support the program on all levels, from mentoring to transportation to fundraising.
* More than 84 percent of On Point for College students remain in college from their freshman to sophomore years. This is well above the national average retention rate of 75 percent – and a phenomenal achievement for an at-risk student population.
* More than 85 percent of all funds raised go directly to student services.
* For every dollar in aid awarded to its students, On Point for College leverages an additional $33 in aid from federal, state and private sources.

It's really an amazing organization - you can stop by their website at http://www.onpointforcollege.org/ for more information.

The Delivery Zone

2009-01-21T05:10:00.000-05:00

Meet Sue - she's been our delivery person for several years now. She and her partner TJ own The Delivery Zone, an on-call courier service. Without them, we could never do what we do.

When we have a delivery (or 2 or 10) ready to go, we give Sue a call and she's there - usually within minutes. The thing we love most about Sue is how tenacious she is about making sure the gifts get to their intended recipient. Residential deliveries are often tricky - it sometimes takes a few visits and phone call or two to catch someone home to accept the gift, but she never gives up and always has a smile and a positive attitude. She treats the gifts as if she made them herself, and never misses an opportunity to help promote our business. She is definitely one of the keys to our success. Thank you Sue!!!!

Inauguration Day!

2009-01-20T14:11:00.003-05:00

God bless President Barack Obama.

The White House has it's own blog!

2009-01-20T14:01:00.003-05:00

Can you believe it???????

Go to: www.whitehouse.gov/blog

Times they are a changin'.......

Good News! (maybe....)

2009-01-20T11:32:00.004-05:00

As I mentioned in a recent post, the movie that MIGHT include our gift baskets is due to be released soon (read "The Craziest Story" from July 2006). We've been trying to track down some still shots of our gifts in the movie for a while now, and I finally found Jeff Gross (formerly of Walden Media) online.

I asked him if our gifts actually made it into the film, and according to him they definitely made it onto the set, and were used in the original filming. BUT - the distributor of the movie requested that some scenes be re-shot, and Jeff never saw the final version. Sounds promising, but who knows?

Funny....

2009-01-20T09:03:00.003-05:00

Found this on Twitter this morning, via Janet Lee Johnson:

Loved the button I saw yesterday on the web: "I refuse to participate in a recession."

:-)

Featured Product - Speach's I'll Be Dipped chocolate covered potato chips

2009-01-19T12:01:00.005-05:00

A few months ago we decided to increase our selection of locally made products. We've always done really well with Syracuse and CNY themed gifts and decided to see what else might be out there that we could use in our baskets. We'll be featuring some of our new favorites in upcoming blog posts.

One of the goodies we picked up is Speach's chocolate covered potato chips. I have to admit, these didn't even sound good to me at first, but one of my friends insisted that they were absolutely yummy and addicting - and was she ever right! Something about the salty-sweet combination....once you start eating them you can't stop.

We carry the 1/2 lb tub of milk chocolate covered chips (which we feature in some of our standard gifts), but you can also visit their store on Syracuse's north side to check out other varieties and sizes.

R.I.P.

2009-01-18T11:24:00.004-05:00

We are saddened to report the recent death of our beloved company van, Old Red, at the ripe age of 14. She was a good old girl, a once-pretty shade of candy apple red, who worked hard and always went the extra mile for us.

Old Red made us both van-believers. We acquired her a few years ago for $1200 from a friend of mine, and she was worth her weight in Lindt Trufffles. She delivered gifts, and hauled supplies and furniture with ease. She even travelled down the Thruway to Batavia, through cold and snow at Christmas time for emergency boxes of shred. Sure, we had to patch her up a few times, but she always rallied and kept on going.

Last week we had to make the tough decision to put Old Red down. Julie's mechanic, Tony Masello told us that her prognosis was very poor...she was just too tired to go on. So regretfully we let her go. We sure will miss having her around.

Rest in peace, Old Red!

Still Alive!

2009-01-16T20:22:00.006-05:00

Over the past 6 months our regular customers have asked Julie about my whereabouts and about what I've been up to. I actually am still alive and kicking, and wanted to jump in for a couple of paragraphs and do a little catching up.

The previously mentioned pesky knee was replaced last June, and since then I've enjoyed being semi-retired from the basket business (and being able to walk!) I'm still a full-time nurse at University Hospital, but at age 60, I am dead-set on taking some time for me.

Julie and I still "talk business" frequently, and confer on major business decisions, but she has been running the day-to-day show alone since June and I might add, doing a FABULOUS job! And this is as it should be...the business was originally Julie's creation. I jumped in early on to help back in 2001, and together we built up the business to where it is today. Since I've been out of the picture, she has taken the bull by the horns, so to speak, and fine-tuned our operation in many positive ways. We have 2 well-trained permanent staff whom we trust to handle things when Julie is busy or unavailable. As a result, she has more time to work on the things that improve and strenghthen our business, such as marketing, customer service, website operation....basically, all of the nuts and bolts of things.

All in all we're in a very good place business-wise, with many positive things happening, and the possible movie appearance is just frosting on the cake! It's an exciting time for both of us.

Do I miss the business? Of course I do! I really miss the everyday time I had with my daughter. And when I jumped in to help out over the holidays, there were lots of hugs from old friends and customers.

The Syracuse Gift Basket Company will always be my retirement job of choice, but in the meantime, I am kicking back and living a little. And marveling at the great things Julie is doing with our business!

New pics coming soon!

2009-01-16T11:29:00.002-05:00

We had photo shoot this morning with our favorite photographer, Laura Brazak. Valentine's Day gifts and lots of other new designs will be up on the website soon.....stay tuned.

Custom Gift Basket - Bridal Show Give Away

2009-01-16T08:08:00.004-05:00

One of our long time corporate clients, The Genesee Grande Hotel, recently brought in some beautiful items (wine, wine glasses, chocolates, a hotel gift certificate, an inspirational plaque, and a handsome chocolate brown chest) for us to create a gift to raffle off at a recent bridal show.

Don't be one of the sheeple

2009-01-15T08:28:00.005-05:00

At SGB we always comment on how different our busy holiday season is from year to year. Some years everyone orders early, some years we're hit with an avalanche of orders at the last minute. Sometimes we sell tons of gift baskets with a local theme, and others hardly at all. I was really encouraged that this holiday season Central New York products were far and away what we sold the most of. It seemed like everyone was acutely aware of the difficult economic situation and decided to circle the wagons and support local businesses. It IS important, and as a small business owner nobody understands this better than me.

I am always baffled (and I've posted on this topic before) that with all the outstanding local businesses we have in this area that people are still lined up like sheep at national chain restaurants and stores to spend their hard earned money on a mediocre product and ambivalant service. Stella's vs. Denny's, Boom Babies vs. H & M, Joey's vs. Olive Garden, Sweet on Chocolate vs. Fanny Farmer, Sound Garden vs. Best Buy.....the list goes on. I guess it's because you really have to think about what you're doing if you want to break those habits. The mall, the chain restaurants - they are the easy, default answer. You don't have to think too hard. And I admit, sometimes I really don't want to think too hard.

Since becoming a small business owner myself, I have made a real effort to think about my choices and the impact they make. Recently I took it one step further - I switched from my big, impersonal regional bank (to whom I was paying a fortune in bank fees, BTW) to a very small, grassroots, Syracuse based (okay, Syracuse ONLY) credit union - Cooperative Federal. Now, it doesn't look look like any bank you've ever seen before. It's teeny-tiny. It has no drive through and no parking. But - they are super friendly, very accomodating and guess what? All the money really stays in Syracuse. They help people buy their first houses and local businesses get off the ground. With my old bank, I felt like whenever I asked something of them the answer was "no" or "it's going to cost you $30". At the credit union, the attitude is, "What can we do to help you?" Refreshing.

Custom Gift Basket - Muffin Magic

2009-01-14T08:19:00.005-05:00

This custom gift was a personal one. My niece Samantha LOVES to cook - how many 10 year old kids ask for a food processor for Christmas? And she loves the color pink. So, I found this cute muffin cookbook, and paired it up with some good Calphalon muffin pans, and pink (a portion of the proceeds go to breast cancer research), mixing bowls and utensils. It was a big hit!

Custom Gift Basket - The Snow Leopard

2009-01-13T08:45:00.004-05:00

Just before Christmas, one of our corporate clients asked that we create a gift with a snow leopard theme, for The Snow Leopard Soiree fundraiser at the Rosamond Gifford Zoo. I must admit I was a little stumped on this one - I wasn't too sure of what a snow leopard actually looked like. Luckily, Laura's daughter Grace was able to track one down for us along with a couple of books. Voila!

New year, new look

2009-01-12T16:40:00.007-05:00

Do you make New Year's resolutions? Are you vowing to lose 20 lbs, quit smoking, break bad habits? Every year at this time I resolve to make Syracuse Gift Basket BETTER - I retool it. Sometimes a little, sometimes a lot. By the middle of January we've all recovered from our crazy Christmas season, and all the figures and feedback are in so we can assess what's happening with the company. Call me crazy, but I find it therapeutic to throw everything up in the air once a year and see where it lands.

(Speaking of the Christmas season, we have been asked a lot in the last couple of weeks how we did. With all the doom and gloom in the media right now about the shaky economy, friends, customers and business acquaintances are curious about how we made out. I mean let's face it - gift baskets are more of a luxury item than a necessity. But, we actually managed to maintain almost exactly what we did in 2007. Any other year I'd be a little upset about that....but all things considered, I'm pretty pleased. I was fully expecting to see a significant drop. But I digress...)

One of the nice things about the space we currently occupy is how flexible it is. In the 4 1/2 years we've been here, we've changed our configuration many times. When we moved here, we used the bulk of our space for the public "storefront" area, and less for production. Then we started seeing a trend of more and more of business coming in over the Internet. At one point we were toying with the idea of moving to an Internet only business model and moving the business to a warehouse, so we made our showroom area much smaller and increased our work space.

But, things are always changing....and over the last year we've noticed a big increase our foot traffic. I would still hesitate to call us a true "retail" store (most of our business still comes in over the Internet and by phone), but more and more people are stopping in to check us out and to grab a gift on the way to the hospital or a business meeting. So, we've changed things around yet again...kind of a hybrid of our original plan and our most recent layout. We've increased the display space, but kept some of the extra production area we added. For our customers, it means we are able to have a much bigger selection of our standard gifts made and ready to go. If you're in the neighborhood, please stop in and say hello (FYI - we've been known to have gourmet chocolates or cookies out as samples....not that we're trying to bribe you :-).

A release date - FINALLY!

2009-01-02T10:04:00.003-05:00

After 2 1/2 years, "our" movie finally has a release date - March 20, 2009! Yay!

Will it actually get released this time? Did our baskets make the cut? More importantly, will the delivery person be wearing one of the aprons with our name on it? Only time will tell.

Truth be told, most of the excitement has completely worn off....it's more curiousity at this point. We did find a trailer for the movie on YouTube, check it out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7LQi6GMhJk

Joey's Restaurant has a new cookbook!

2008-12-11T10:37:00.006-05:00

Joey's restaurant has been serving amazing Italian food at their Carrier Circle location for over 25 years. Proprietor Joey DeCuffa has just released a gorgeous cookbook filled with all the delicious recipes that have made Joey's a local favorite.

Syracuse Gift Basket now has a limited number of autographed copies of "Joey's Italian". You can add it to one of our gift baskets featuring Joey's pasta sauces, or it makes a great gift all by itself. You can also purchase our gift baskets right at the restaurant.

New Faces - Jenny Lewis

2008-10-04T12:29:00.003-04:00

Meet Jenny Lewis. She's originally from Texas and went to college in Utah. She landed in Syracuse because her husband started grad school at Syracuse University.

Jenny has a great eye for design, and she might be the sweetest, most good natured person I've ever met. We're very excited to have her on board!

New Faces - Laura McDermott

2008-09-30T11:22:00.002-04:00

Syracuse Gift Basket Company has some new faces! Meet Laura McDermott.

Laura has been a stay at home mom and active volunteer for the last 20 years. Now that her kids are getting older, she's looking for some new challanges. She's super-creative, has good organizational skills and she loves talking to people - we think she's going to be a great fit!

Your Town Cards are here!

2008-09-24T09:45:00.003-04:00

Have you heard about the new Your Town Cards? It's a card that entitles you to discounts and special offers from 141 local merchants - including us! It's super easy, and it eliminates having keep track of bulky books or coupons.

A Your Town Card makes a great, inexpensive addition to one of our locally themed gift baskets, especially for friends and family who are new to the area.

A Your Town Card is also a great way to save on your next gift basket order with us. If you place an order and purchase a Your Town Card for yourself, you'll save 10% off that order as well as all future orders.

You can visit http://www.yourtowncard.com/ for more information and a current list of merchants.

This 'n' That

2008-01-27T11:42:00.000-05:00

Feeling the need to catch up.....it's been awhile since our last blog.

January, is always a pretty slow month, a good/bad thing, actually. Good because we get a much-needed breather, good because we have a chance to regroup/assess where we are, and good because we have a chance to "fabulate" a new collection of gifts for Valentine's Day. But really not so great for our cash flow. Thank God for the awesome corporate customer we acquired last year who keeps us going on a daily basis.

It was actually that very same customer who requested the 40 last-minute holiday gifts I mentioned in my "Merry Christmas..." entry. We were winding down on Friday, our last business day before Christmas, so very glad to have everything under control, knowing that all we had to do was get through the afternoon. Julie had been in discussion with our contact at the company for some time about this particular order, trying to pin down the details. We knew it was due soon, and we knew we would be out of the store until after Christmas. When she told us the gifts had to be in the hands of the recipients by the January 2 , she didn't realize, but we knew we had a "gift basket emergency" on our hands. The gifts were going all over the country, some all the way to the West Coast. They had to go out that day. At that point in our season, 40 of anything was a challenge. We had gaping holes in our stock. and we were pretty much fried crispy. Fortunately for all of us, our customer's first choice of gifts contained seasonal items we would have had left over after the holidays (bonus!) And fortunately Julie and I were both there, as well as our new "Girl Friday" in- training and our awesome holiday shipping dude. Awesome shipping dude called in our part-time guy, and we dug in our heels...determined to get it done in time for the UPS pick-up at 4:30. Julie constructed all of the gifts, I made bows and shrink-wrapped, Girl Friday wrote message cards and shrink-wrapped, and the boys packed and ran everything through UPS. We pretty much ran at warp-speed, and just did it. As Joe (shipping dude) said, if we had thought about what we were trying to do, it would have freaked us all out. Anyway... fast-forward to bottom line: gifts made, gifts packed and sent in time for the deadline. Customer happy, us happy. We closed the doors at 5 and left for a much needed holiday break with our family.

With that story finished, there is one other potentially more interesting story to update. Julie started our company blog in the summer of 2006, when we were asked to provide a group of baskets for a Tom Hanks-produced movie-in-the-making, "The Great Buck Howard" (See July 2006 "The Craziest Story"). We took our chances at the time, not knowing if it was some sort of weird scam or a real opportunity. We decided it was just something we couldn't afford to pass up. We also knew that it would be an unbearably long wait for the movie, with a release set originally for the summer of 2007. We created the 20 requested baskets, delivered them, and moved forward, trying to tend to everyday business. We intermittently Googled for information on the movie, with not much of anything beyond cast and synopsis of the movie coming up. The summer of 2007 came and went, and the projected release was revised to 2008. Finally, in December I found a couple of stills and a potential movie poster when I searched, and I figured that it might actually be getting close. And then, interestingly enough, my search last week netted several reviews of the movie, which is/has been shown in the past week at the Sundance Film Festival in Utah. The reviews are all favorable, especially in regards to John Malkovich, who plays the title role.

At this point we really have no idea if our baskets will actually be in the movie, and if so, whether or not we will be identified in any way. To be honest, neither one of us are holding our breaths. It was originally explained to us that delivery of the baskets would be an ongoing thread throughout the movie, and that the name of our company would be evident. Yes, it's a little hard to imagine, but we decided that if it was for real and we passed on the opportunity, we wouldn't want to have to deal with "what if?"

We've made countless changes in the operation of our company since we sent out those 20 baskets to Hollywood. We've reinvented ourselves and streamlined and improved our processes and products. Some of this evolution has occurred as our company has grown, but much has been done as a result of our unusual "opportunity". From that aspect, we will never consider it a mistake. We're able to smoothly transition to 5 times our normal business, and we do it well every November and December. Give us the opportunity to accommodate a substantial increase in business every day, and we'll be ready. All we can do is wait and see!

Merry Christmas to All

2007-12-23T21:46:00.000-05:00

Blog coming soon about our last day of business before the holiday..... a 40-piece "emergency" order for one of our best customers was filled in 3 hours ( packed and shipped all over the country). Nothing like a little frosting on the season!!!

At the moment, Julie and I are savoring a few days of freedom and normalcy. Playing catch-up for Christmas is always a challenge, but a fun one. Just wanted to take a minute to thank all of our customers for their business, and for all the great feedback we recieved...we so appreciate it!

Wishing a very Merry Christmas to all.

Twelve Days and Counting.....

2007-12-11T21:45:00.000-05:00

Just a quick entry to note that things are going frighteningly well here in Basketland. All the large orders have been put to bed, including the Monster Order that puts our panties in a bunch each year. (Whew!) Aside from an awesome shipping dude we acquired this year (worth his weight in gold), our extra labor has been minimal.

So it's twelve days and counting until December 23. It's pretty much a love-hate thing this time of year... grueling and gratifying. But no matter what, December 24 is when family time begins, and we can't wait! We both survived crappy 3-week colds and Julie, a nasty stomach bug. On the plus side, neither one of us has snipped finger tips off with scissors or slashed open any body parts with utility knives. No hysterical meltdowns either. I did spill a pile of ravioli in one of my sneakers today, but that was a minor mishap.

Twelve more days? Bring it on...we're ready to handle anything!!!

My Orange Nightmare

2007-11-30T23:55:00.000-05:00

What do you do when you unpack your last shipment of baskets for the season, and discover that 85 of the large ones you need the most are an unfortunate shade of orange? It was my orange nightmare revisited...ARGHHH!

I had just finished re-staining the last remaining few from a batch we got last fall. It was messy, smelly, and time-consuming the first time around...I used oil-based stain and I did it by hand with a brush. It took forever to dry, and alot longer for the odor to disappear. I was so happy to see the last one finished! The very last thing on earth I ever wanted to do again was to re-stain another basket.

But, there they were...85 more baskets that we couldn't send back and coudn't send out the way they were. We need most of them for a big project we're working on right now. Julie is beyond busy at this time of year, running the whole show. So there was no way around it...it was time for me to take one for the team.

I was pretty psyched to discover that water-based stain is not sticky, dries quickly, and doesn't smell like a carcinogen. It had to be the answer! I tried the stain-by-hand with a brush method, and it took at least 20 minutes per basket...it also looked like hell.

Plan B involved dipping the baskets in a some sort of container I could use as a vat. I scoured Home Depot for supplies, and came home with 9 quarts of stain which I diluted with water, several brushes, vinyl gloves, and a large plastic tarp. I emptied my Christmas ornaments out of a large plastic storage container and voila, I was in business!

The next part was tricky... I really have no open area in my home to work on an insane project like this. So I set up the dipping operation in my little kitchen on top of some large trash bags, and spread the long plastic tarp in the kitchen, and all across the length of my living room. I have off-white carpeting, so I was pretty much playing with fire.

Much to my delight, the new plan worked like a charm. It took only about 4 minutes to dip each basket! I was determined to finish the job up by Tuesday, just to get the whole big mess out of my little house.

Untimately WHERE TO PUT THE BASKETS WHILE THEY DRIED became the next nightmare. Picture 85 baskets the size of a shallow laundry basket. I sat on the floor and worked out a system...Dip three, set aside. Stand up, transfer into the living room. Carry in a dozen more. Dip three, and on and on. Every possible space was covered with freshly stained baskets, and I had piles more. So as they dried, I began piling them upside down in layers so they would all fit on the tarp. I worked for 4-5 hours straight, and when I was finished, I had a mountain of baskets about 4 feet high covering my living room. It was a Kodak moment!

My sense of relief and accomplishment at a job well done began to fade the next day when every part of my body began screaming at me, "What were you thinking? You are 59 years old, you have arthritis, and your knee is an orthopedic disaster zone!!! That day I dragged myself to work at the hospital, literally in tears. One of my R.N. friends threw a handful of assorted over-the-counter pain meds at me and said, "Take three of these and two of these, and don't argue with me!" It helped. Another friend went home and brought me back a miocrowaveable rice bag to use on my knee. I really have some good friends.

It's Friday and the pain is down to it's normal dull roar. My off-white carpeting is still off-white, and we're using the formerly orange baskets... they really look great! I just have to make a mental note to remind myself that I'm really not 25 anymore. And that the gift basket business is so fun...isn't it???

Our Thanksgiving Thank You

2007-11-21T16:58:00.000-05:00

Another wild week! Our usual early-order customers did order early, and their Thanksgiving thank-you gifts are made, wrapped, and out the door. Over the years we've encouraged corporate customers to consider client thank-you gifts for Thanksgiving, and several have made it a tradition. This is a win-win for our customers and for us. Their beautiful fall-trimmed gifts are usually the first holiday gifts to arrive, making a bigger impression (we think). On our end, the plus is our holiday workload and cashflow are spread out over a little more time.

Beyond that, we've been amazed at how many of the "Usual Suspects" are checking in early this year. "Usual Suspects" is an absolute term of endearment I use for the wonderful clients we hear from each and every holiday season. It seems that this years' early Thanksgiving has spurred customers into thinking about client gifts about a week earlier than usual. This is all to our advantage in so many ways...extra time for production and the availability of stock allows us to increase our volume, and hopefully accommodate everyone who wants holiday gifts from The Syracuse Gift Basket Company. There is nothing worse that having to turn down orders because of time and stock constraints...it's something we absolutely hate to do. But integrity is integrity, and we won't ever promise anything that we can't deliver.

We had an unexpected surprise yesterday when Shelby Stafford of Channel 9 called, wanting to include our business in a piece she's working on about "Cyber Monday". I guess we're a little out of the loop(?) because we had no idea what that even meant. Apparently, after "Black Friday", there is a comparable shopping day in cyberspace, occurring on the following Monday. She talked to us about many aspects of our business and the impact of the internet, with some shots of Julie making a basket, and of our shop. Some of the Thanksgiving baskets were still waiting to be picked up, so we got to show off some of our larger gifts. As usual, I backed off when the camera started rolling...Julie is so comfortable with that whole scene, and I am so not! Shelby said the piece would air on Monday, early a.m. (5-6:00) and may possibly pop up elsewhere. No matter what, it's nice to have the exposure on TV without the expense. Thanks Shelby!

All in all we have so much to be thankful for. We're off to a phenomenal start to the holiday season, in spite of the ecomony, in spite of the late start, in spite of the fact that alot of people (including us) thought we wouldn't be around this season. In no small part, this is due to our very loyal customers, who come through for us every year with holiday orders and referrals (our best advertising!) It's always so very gratifying to know that our customers appreciate what we do.

Tomorrow Julie will be cooking Thanksgiving dinner for our family, and I will be thankful for our precious time together, probably the last until Christmas. This weekend we'll begin a month of long days and heavy holiday production. Piles of baskets and piles of stock, miles of ribbon and trim are waiting. I'm definitely not complaining, but exactly where are all the elves???

Wishing all a warm and Happy Thanksgiving!

Off and Running!

2007-11-09T19:45:00.000-05:00

It's been a crazy couple of weeks. After looking over our catalog, we realized we still had alot more gifts to reshoot, in addition to our holiday gifts. We're actually reshooting our entire catalog---partly to update and standardize the photos, but also to get them into the format we need to easily reproduce them. Since we downsized our customer area substantially in the shop, we decided to create a catalog with color photos and descriptions of all of our standard gifts. It's virtually impossible to have all of our 75 plus catalog gifts on display at all times, and it was crazy to send people home to look at our website to see them all. So-o-o-o, we came up with the idea to have a loose-leaf type catalog at our customer service counter. Lots of work! Last Sunday, I spent about 16 hours making gifts (marathon day). Laura was scheduled to come back on Monday to finish with our pictures, so we didn't have much choice. Julie had an urgent house project to finish last weekend, so I glued myself to the work table on Sunday and got it done.

Laura commented on Monday that shooting all of these gift basket pictures was better than getting poked in the eye with a sharp stick, but not much.

Unfortunately for Julie, she is the lucky partner who knows about photoshopping the new pictures and working out the spreadsheets for our online catalog (tedious!) We needed to recalculate prices on alot of gifts due to all of the price increases we have been absorbing, so it was time for a re-do anyway. (After all, we are trying to stay in business!) Most of the time, it's just Julie and I here, so when we are working on something extra besides our normal business, it's challenging.

But, there is good news! Our previously mentioned "Girl Friday", Susan offered to come back and work 2 days a week, and more when we get down to the nitty gritty of holiday production. Yay for us! She started back this week, and has accomplished wonders of organization already. We had hoped to consolidate our operation enough to get by without the 1500 square feet we have been renting upstairs. This was just fine for everyday business. But the day the wall of baskets for holiday gifts arrived, we knew it wasn't enough space for the November-December madness. So, we are again setting up production areas upstairs.

And more good news...our biggest holiday client placed their annual monster order on October 30! Last year it didn't come in until December 1, and it impacted our entire holiday season. Most people don't even think about holiday gifts until December 1. But when you have a 2-3 week project on your plate that late in the season, it becomes extremely difficult to commmit to much more (no matter how much help you pull in.) So we talked to them early about the state of things, and they were kind enough to place their order early this year. (We love them for that!)

Several other large orders have come in already, so it's feeling like it's going to be an awesome season. We're winding up the catalog project, and things are coming together. The work area is being readied and the elves are being summoned. We are off and running!

Back in the Game

2007-10-23T20:50:00.000-04:00

Part of our streamlining process for the business included weeding out "dead weight" gifts on the website and redesigning some existing gifts that we wanted to keep. Dead weight gifts are things that never really took off, for whatever reason (often a mystery to us.) Redesigns become necessary when major components or containers become unavailable (frustrating!), or we find a better way to design a gift. We've had some new ideas simmering on the back burner for awhile, as well as the urgently needed holiday designs for this season. Bottom line.....we had alot of work to do!

Julie set the photo shoot for Monday, and we were off and running. We've been so busy, it came down to the weekend to get it all done. We spent most of Saturday cooking up new designs, and continued to add more on Monday morning until our photographer came. We're fortunate to have Laura Brazak (Laura Brazak Photography), who's willing to come to our shop and take the photos in-house. She's a good friend of Julie's, and does a great job with our products. (Adjusting cookie boxes, shower gel, and Kit-Kats to the proper angle can be challenging!) In the olden days, Julie had to load all of the new gifts into her van, lug them to the photographers', and then cart them all back again to our shop. Logistical nightmare.

Happily, Julie and Laura have the shoots down to a science, and it all goes pretty quickly...adjustments made, photos taken, done. It's all pretty laid back, and so not stressful! Laura finished the job yesterday in no time. We still have some holiday gifts to work on this week, but most of our standard designs are done for the time being. And then there are the spread sheets, descriptions, and uploads to do. But...we're on our way!

After the photo shoot yesterday, I looked at all the great new gifts, and then looked at Julie. "I guess we're not rolled over playing dead anymore....it looks like we're back in the game!

Where's is Susan?!!

2007-10-06T07:45:00.001-04:00

Susan was our Girl Friday. She came to us a couple of Christmases ago, and decided she liked the work (and us) enough to come and help us part-time on a regular basis. She has a young family, and needed the schedule flexibility that we could offer her. She made gifts, checked in and organized stock, ran errands, made deliveries when we could spare her, and made the store presentable when we couldn't find time. On top of that, she was awesome with customers. We trusted her to hold down the fort for us when we both needed to be out of the store. It was a great fit! Unfortunately for us, Susan moved outside of the city over the summer. She lives too far away now to come in for the few hours a day that she was available.

So here we are, reorganizing our operation, gearing up for the holidays (with piles of stock hitting the door everyday), and business on the increase. At the moment we're trying to complete the 150 small gifts we're making for one of our regular corporate customers, due to go out the door on Tuesday. Susan was always our g0-to girl on this type of project. We made the prototype, she would pretty much take it from there, and we took care of everything else that was going on.

It's a 3-day weekend, and we're planning major time in the store to try to catch up. The weather has unfortunately been gorgeous for months. I say unfortunately because we've had little time to relax and enjoy, AND we still can't ship the damn chocolate because of the heat! (Bah, humbug!) There are holiday designs, photos, stock, and staffing to figure out, and we both have job committments outside of our business this year.

Probably this is enough complaining for now, don't you think? Many people in our industry would love to have the customers and volume that we have. (And and we've worked way to hard not to appreciate it ourselves. ) We know we'll get it all done, just as we always do, and eventually we'll find another Girl Friday. But Julie and I just look at each other and say, "Where is Susan?!!"

Making Lemonade...

2007-09-17T18:19:00.001-04:00

Anyone who's followed our blog probably wonders WHERE ON EARTH we've been for the past few months. In a nutshell, Julie and I made a joint decision in the spring to get out of the business. We weren't sure how we'd do it...we just knew we were crispy and READY! Julie has some other business opportunities brewing, and I just want to "retire" to my nursing career.
So...we began formulating an exit plan, and wondered what we would do with all of this "stuff". Very unexpectedly, a pair of potential buyers asked if we would consider selling the business to them. They recognized the value of our name in this area, and the value of our corporate client base. We were excited! They were excited! We hired a business broker, fast-forwarded through a complete inventory, put all of our records in order, and made sure the store was in great shape. We all met over the summer, and spoke on the phone intermittently about what progress was being made. The buyers were doing what they had to do to get their financing in order. They had asked if we would give them first opportunity at taking over the business and we honored that request. (We did not make the business available to the general public.)
The summer months were passing, and we were anxious to move on. We kept busy, tried to be patient, and kept everything running as normally as possible while we waited. The irony of it all was that we were having our busiest summer ever. We acquired some valuable new clients, and had several substantial orders booked into the fall. With shortened summer hours, we were barely keeping up. Still we were confident that the sale would go through, and we were happy to pass on a thriving business to our buyers.
Then one day a couple of weeks ago, we got our unexpected surprise. Julie was on the phone as I was flying out the door to make my evening shift at the hospital. She put her hand over the mouthpiece, and let me know that the sale was not going to happen.
To say we were disappointed is an understatement. With such positive feedback all summer from our potential buyers, we were pretty sure we would be out of the business by fall. Julie is already into some other projects, and I had been mentally filling my upcoming free time with family, travel, and assorted fun projects.
So...I'm fond of saying that what we're doing now is taking our lemons and "making lemonade". With sales on the increase, we're on course to have a fabulous holiday season, and all in all a banner year. We've always prided ourselves on being "gritty girls", so we put our disppointment behind us and dug our heels in for yet another holiday season. Being about a month behind (we usually begin mid-August) will be challenging. Fortunately, we've been through seven Christmas seasons, and have learned volumes along the way.
Last week we began streamlining our inventory and reconfiguring our facility to accommodate our current and holiday business. The store is upside down at the moment, but will be a fully functioning thing of beauty by the end of the week. And then we jump head first into the nitty gritty of holiday prep.
I have to say that twenty hour work days with hair-on-fire stress is not something we thought we'd be doing again this holiday season. But with increased sales, and half of our annual revenue coming in November and December, it wouldn't be such a bad thing to go for it and finish out the year.
And then there's "The Great Buck Howard". While it's still in "post production", you just never know.....we'll just have to wait and see where we are in January!

The Dynamic Duo

2007-04-23T15:12:00.000-04:00

Modeling our "uniform" we created for the movie debut

New Store Pictures

2007-04-23T15:08:00.000-04:00

New Store Pictures

2007-04-23T15:07:00.000-04:00

New Store Pictures

2007-04-23T15:06:00.000-04:00

Spring Cleaning

2007-04-23T15:00:00.000-04:00

We haven't posted in a while....we've been making some changes at the Syracuse Gift Basket Company.

With spring finally here, we were inspired to revamp our space to make better use of our showroom and main workspace. More pictures to follow...

We Did It!

2007-01-26T00:23:00.000-05:00

Routinely the very hardest time of year for us is January. Why? Business is generally down to a crawl, and we are burnt crispy after the holiday season. What we'd love to do is take a couple of weeks off (or burn the shop down), but what we have to do is wrap our brains around our most (not!) favorite time of the year. You know, the February holiday that's all tacky red and lacey, and full of corny stuffed animals, expensive flowers that last a day or two, and mountains of bazillion calorie chocolates. And bear in mind that red is one of our least favorite colors to design with.....
But okay, we're game. It has to be done. Looking through the product catalogs helped a little, and we put in our orders, with some new stuff thrown in to spark ours and everyone else's interest. Julie tried to be encouraging..."You know we always do better when we have new things to work with!" I wasn't so sure. Summoning up that creative gene again so soon after Christmas is always like pulling teeth (painful!)
Then a Really Funny Thing happened when our new Valentine's Day stock started to arrive. We began to feel cautiously excited as we opened each box, and the little light bulbs started going off in our heads. New design ideas! Yes! We forged ahead, gave ourselves some deadlines, arranged a photo shoot, and jumped in. As I've said before, Julie and I work pretty well together most of the time. When the pressure's on, we kick into creative overdrive, and usually come up with some great gifts. We bounce alot of ideas off each other, and even finish each other's designs when one of us is stuck. It works for us.
So we were off and running, and within a few days we found ourselves with 2o new gifts for the Dreadful Holiday. Roses, bears, chocolate, red. All of it. We sat back, looked at our work, and liked it! And then we tried to figure out just exactly why we had so much fun doing it.....?
If you'd like to check out our new Valentine's Day creations, go to syracusegiftbasketcompany.com or click on the link provided here.

Ten Things We Learned...Holiday Post-Mortem

2007-01-17T11:09:00.000-05:00

1. If all of your large corporate orders come in after December 1, you should know you're in deep doo doo.
2. When you're surrounded by green and red, accepting a $5000 order for orange and blue gifts a week before Christmas will put you over the edge in any number of weird ways.
3. Filling your store fridge with lo-cal foods does actually equal weight loss during the holidays, even if you're awash in a sea of good chocolate. BIG Happy Dance!
4. Instead of being annoyed, be happy that a competitor actually has the time to crank call you in December.
5. We've learned that seasonal help will make or break us. Finding out what each person is really good at is key, and drastically cuts down on the dreaded "tweaking". (I'd really rather make it from scratch than fix it!)
6. Prepping really does save your butt, especially when everything is last-minute. This year we de-tagged, pre-cut, pre-bowed, pre-filled, and pre-messaged ourselves silly.
7. Our logo apron, purple crocs, dress jeans and white shirt "uniform" was one of the best ideas we've had. Besides being super comfy, there was no "what do I have to wear that is clean, not wrinkled, and matches" dilemma every morning. Our favorite dry-cleaning man, Frank Principato even picked up, laundered and starched, and delivered our shirts for us! How great is that?
8. We've learned that when we have 100 plus shippers on any given day, we need to give UPS a "heads-up". They tend to freak.
9. When your son calls and reports there is nothing to eat at home except stale marshmallows, it's time to squeeze in a trip to the grocery store to pick up something besides the 250 bags of Lindt Truffles you need to fill an order.
10. We learned, to our dismay, that corporate and private customers are still mistakenly placing orders with "syracusegiftbaskets.com", thinking they are ordering from us. We are seriously, seriously not the same company.

With all this being said, it's onward and upward to Valentine's Day, as well as several other projects we have simmmering. As we jump into our 7th year, we take the good and the bad, learn what we can, fix what we can, and try to do everything better!

Merry Christmas!

2006-12-23T18:39:00.000-05:00

Lots to tell about our CRAZY holiday season...coming after the holiday. Right now Julie and I are scrambling to make Christmas happen for our family. Two days isn't nearly enough, but that's all we have!
Wishing all a peaceful and joyous holiday.

Bulletin from Basketland

2006-12-14T00:32:00.000-05:00

What else can I say? We're BURIED ALIVE. Due to a tremendous increase in the amount of corporate business we received this year we're now evaulating new orders on an individual basis. We've always felt that putting out a high quality product is preferable to sending out gifts that aren't up to our usual standards....even if it means we leave a few bucks on the table.

Emily, Matt, Ross, Susan, Kayleigh, Sara, Deb, Deanna and Jill are all working hard to help us complete our holiday orders. Sleep has become a fond, distant memory and we're contemplating replacing our water cooler with Red Bull.

Buried!

2006-12-03T23:13:00.000-05:00

No, we haven't died...but we are buried. Several of our regular corporate customers put in their holiday orders last week. The monster order that we expected about 3 weeks ago is one of them. We're looking at our calendar, and counting 20 days to complete everything that's come in, plus whatever else happens in the next few weeks. Yikes!!!

The extra elves are being summoned, and truckloads of stock are being ordered. Hopefully, the streamlining we've been working on all year will pay off. We know we'll handle it, whatever it takes...we always do.

The upside is that it's only 20 days of Basket Hell. Wish us luck!

Custom Gift Basket - Bianchi Industrial

2006-11-22T14:05:00.001-05:00

This fun project was a gift we designed for Bianchi Industrial, a local demolition company. The toy crane and miniature dumpster were filled with goodies for the office to share and we used chicken wire to simulate the chain link fencing they use on their job sites. It was huge - 3 feet wide and 2.5 feet high!

Hunkering Down

2006-11-06T21:43:00.000-05:00

NO time to post this week...in fact there's been no time for anything but making gifts! We had the good fortune to have several substantial orders all come in at the same time, all due within the same week. It seems early to be putting in these hours, but we're not complaining! After all, we did take a break last Thursday to watch Grey's Anatomy (our most favorite show ever), right before we crashed and burned for the night.

Hunkering Down has officially begun here in Basketland! The old store fridge is almost filled to capacity with frozen diet food (yum!), yogurt, and Diet Coke. Our little bunk room upstairs will be readied this weekend for the short nights ahead. And, the previously mentioned logo apron/purple Croc uniform is a reality. It's already saving our butts every morning...love it when a plan comes together!

By early next week this batch of projects will be finished, and just in the nick of time. The Big Corporate Holiday Order is due to land on our doorstep by the end of this week... and then the marathon begins. Ho, Ho, Ho!

The Wren's Den

2006-11-03T19:45:00.001-05:00

A long-time customer came in recently to purchase some of our handcrafted Wren's Den soaps. When he comes in he buys them in quantity for his wife, who just loves them. We've even made soap-filled gift baskets for him. When we were located downtown, some of our customers came in just to smell The Wren's Den soaps...that really made us smile! Seems as if it was a form of aromatherapy, and customers always left feeling better.

What and where exactly is The Wren's Den? New customers are usually surprised to hear that all of our bath and body products are made locally in Marcellus by our long-time friend Mary Carlic. (She is sometimes also assisted by her husband, whom she affectionately refers to as "The Soap Slave".) We've used Mary's products from the beginning, when her only product was soap. Her line has since expanded, and her products can be found in gift shops around the Northeast. While we've experimented with some nationally made bath lines in the past, we decided a few years ago to use The Wren's Den products exclusively. Why? Anyone who has received one of our pamper/spa gifts knows just how unique these products are. Carefully handcrafted with quality ingredients, The Wren's Den line is available in the most delicious scents...traditional lavender, cucumber, oatmeal and honey, and raspberry are our favorites, as well as Mary's original Yuzu and Day at the Beach. We tuck Mary's Tubby Time soap in our baby gifts, and offer her whimsical Tickle Toes foot care online and in our store. She also creates special seasonal soaps, which we include in some of our Syracuse-themed gifts for the holidays. Besides the fact that we prefer her products, we've always felt it was important to support fellow women entreprenuers.

The other great thing you may notice about Mary's products are the beautiful labels. Every design is an original piece of artwork, created expressly for each of her scents. Why would anyone be that fussy about labels? Mary believes as we do, that her products should always be something special. We LOVE that !!!

For gifts that feature Mary's products, you can click on our company link, then "Gifts for Her".

Purple Crocs?

2006-10-23T08:04:00.000-04:00

Julie says everyone will think we're crazy if I post this, but really you have to be at least a little crazy to even be in this business. And I do think that being silly sometimes is good for the soul! So, here goes... I'm posting a blog about purple Crocs.

We all know that putting together a fashionable ensemble every day can be stressful. When you're knee-deep in monster holiday orders, and running on no sleep, it's a nightmare! We decided this year that we absolutely needed something easy, something comfortable, something neat. Maybe even something that ties in with our new sage and plum corporate colors. When I was making our green logo aprons for "The Great Buck Howard" movie, a LIGHT BULB went on. It's perfect! No muss, no fuss... a no-brainer in fact! Tie our soon-to-be-famous aprons on over comfortable pants and a shirt and Voila! Dressed in 5 minutes flat and looking good!

But what about our poor on-em-for-twenty-hours-a-day feet? Foot comfort is absolutely KEY...in fact, it can pretty much make or break your day. Julie bought her first pair of Crocs last winter, and swears they are the most comfortable things ever. Okay then, we decided...Crocs, it is! We sat down together after a crazy busy day last week, clicked on the Crocs website, and placed the order. Green or purple...purple or green? We spent more time on this earthshattering decision than we will ever admit. Green would be the more tasteful choice, but we decided we wanted something FUN...fun, comfortable, and PURPLE!

A week has passed, and our fun and very purple Crocs have arrived. I gave them a test drive on Friday, and my feet are doin' the happy dance!