Last updated on September 8th, 2017 at 05:40 pm

The goal of Gift Basket Originals is to make gift giving easy and efficient while making your gift the best expression of your personal feelings towards the gift recipient. Since Cindy Antila started the business venture in 1988, she had envisioned that each gift basket they make can literally leave a lifetime impression. From a small home business, she then decided to expand to the world market through her website.

Gift Basket Originals started as a part time job. Cindy decided to leave her job as a designer when she had her first born to be able to stay at home and care for her baby. After a year, she started a small home business and thought this was the best option as she could work her own hours and still be a full-time mom. Cindy didn’t have formal business training or experience, but still decided on this venture after reading an article about a gift basket business. Using the little capital she had, she started Gift Basket Originals.

Gift Basket Originals became popular through word of mouth and aggressive networking. In 4 years, Cindy had to take her business out of her house and into a small office as business was growing and she already needed more space. The continued growth eventually led to opening her first retail location. The Gift Basket Originals retail shop has been in operation for 13 years, having been in several retail locations as well. The recent slowing economy and sales led Cindy to focus on her corporate and online accounts, eventually closing the retail shop and getting rid of overhead/rental costs. The less she spends on other things, the more she can focus on producing quality gift baskets.

In addition to Gift Baskets, they carry a wide range of personalized & monogrammed gift items, logo merchandise and small marketing gifts. One of the most popular items they sell is Nam’s Chocoalate Chip Cookies, which come in jars with personalized labels that can include a company logo.

The company’s biggest selling point is that their customers can call Gift Basket Originals and talk to a real person who cares. They are prompt with taking care of questions and problems, and if they see that something is not right about an order, they follow up with clients and ask questions. Cindy feels that a smaller group of dedicated people keeps the quality up. Even if they hire extra help during the holidays, they still work hard to maintain quality. Cindy says, “We go the extra mile to make sure customers get what they want when they want it.”

Gift Basket Original’s mission statement is to always provide customers with quality products and excellent customer service. Cindy shares, “We make your lives easier by doing what we do best, so you have time to do what you do best!”

Gift Basket Originals has been using UPrinting for the past year now. When they closed their retail store, they found that sending postcards to new and regular customers was a good way to remind them that Gift Basket Originals is definitely still in operation. For every order that goes out, Cindy also includes special inserts (produced through UPrinting’s business card templates) telling people about their gifts which also contains their contact information in case there are any questions or problems. She uses these personalized inserts along with the client’s own business card or gift tag. Cindy states, “UPrinting is easy to use, economical and they have great customer service! I tried a few other companies first and found their design tool difficult to use and customer service is not as good as UPrinting.”

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