Renewing Traditions - Basket of the Week

One of my first experiences in business was in the early 1990's at Rice’s Country Market. While I was a young entrepreneur and mom, Rice’s (as it was commonly called) was one of the oldest country markets on the East Coast. Many of the very popular baskets in The Basket Lady line today came from working directly with my customer's in the early years.

Back then, the market was held outdoors on Tuesday mornings from May to December. It opened at 6 a.m.  The market was extremely popular in those days, with shoppers arriving early so they could get a parking spot.  They came armed with flashlights to see in the dark. 

I dreamed of starting my own business and thought Rice's Market would be a great place to test the water. I had already started to develop my own line of highly sought after, hand-woven rattan baskets from Indonesia.  At 5:15 a.m., with the truck already loaded with baskets, I headed for the market. It was located about 45 minutes away from my home. After maneuvering the truck into a tight space, in the dark, it would take me about 90 minutes to unload all the baskets and transform the often muddy or snow-covered area into an attractive outdoor store. 

One of my most popular weekly promotions was The Basket Lady’s “Basket of the Week.” I started the promotion as a way to offer my customers a discount on some great baskets and to reduce inventory. My regular customers knew to stop by each week just to check out what The Basket Lady had as the “Basket of the Week.” They did not want to miss any great deals!

After many years at Rice’s Market, and with the changing retail climate, I moved on to selling through our very popular The Basket Lady website. 

Well, here we are many years later, and The Basket Lady has decided it was time to offer the popular “Basket of the Week” to our online customers! My roots remain grounded in my early years, and I thought it might be fun to bring back our “Basket of the Week.”

Please look for our emails each Tuesday to find out which basket will be offered to you through this new promotion – the “Basket of the Week!