Gooseberry Patch - Home, Sweet, Home
Written: Oct 13 '03
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Preamble
My mother-in-law is quite the country-motif decorator. Her house is like one giant, museum of this stuff. You can go from room to room, and spend hours looking at all of her stuff. Every holiday, she redecorates. What's a holiday? A holiday could be those that you know and understand like Christmas, Thanksgiving, and Halloween, but it also could mean Back to School. This is just one example of a holiday that my mother-in-law has created, all an excuse to redecorate her home.
And by the way, if you ever want to know what official holiday it is, you need only look to her stone goose that sits on her front porch. How is it dressed? That will answer your question :).
I'm telling you all of this because I am *not* a decorator. Yes, I like to decorate things - cookies, cakes, etc... but I'm just not the type of person who has the time to re-decorate the furnishings of their home every 6-8 weeks. Exhausting!
It's because of my mother-in-law's love for decorating and most importantly, this motif of country, that I first learned about Gooseberry Patch. When we would go shopping, she would oooohhhh! and ahhhh! over their merchandise. My MIL is very difficult to shop for so knowing this information was something I could tuck away for later. And believe me I have. Gooseberry Patch merchandise has rescued me PLENTY of times and in one of my searches for something the MIL wanted, I found out that they had a web site. Yay!
Who Is Gooseberry Patch?
Back in 1984, two women - Jo Ann and Vickie - started chit-chatting over their backyard fences, sharing details about their families and sharing info on their hobbies. One hobby that they had in common was collecting antiques and country decorating. They decided to open up their own small, mail order business never quite understanding how quickly it would grow and take off. Soon enough, they moved out of their homes and into an office building and their mail order catalog expanded from a 12 page insert to a full blow book that averages 90 + pages per print.
Gooseberry Patch is currently located in Delaware, Ohio.
The Gooseberry Patch Web Site
When you first go to Gooseberry Patch, you have the option to shop (yay!), post messages with other enthusiasts, drop the co-founders a note (which I did), review new recipes, and of course shop. I'm not going to go into any details about the areas outside of the shopping pages because that, my friends, would take all day.
Once you get to the shopping home page, your eyes come alive because all of the wonderful graphics and good use of color. Categories are broken up into manageable areas and all you have to do is point and click to get where you want to go. It's a secure site and moving forward and backward causes no issues. Not once did I experience a "page not found" or other type of warning.
Selection and Prices
As you can imagine, Gooseberry Patch sells Gooseberry Patch merchandise. What they seem to be most famous for is their cookbooks and in fact, we're a living testament to that. I think that we have the entire collection minus 2 or 3.
Aside from cookbooks, you can purchase kitchen tools, dishes, bake ware; goodies (that need baking, cooking, or are ready to eat); candles; quilts, throws, and rugs; lights; and items that are very seasonal in nature (Christmas, Thanksgiving, Halloween, etc...).
Believe me, you can spend a lot of time on this site, looking through each of their items!
And speaking of looking through their items, you'll find that each item is pictured along with its availability, the price, and a nice description of the product.
Make sure you look carefully to see if purchasing multiple of those items gives you a discount! This occurs for hardback cookbooks (if you purchase 6, they give you 20% off overall).
While you can purchase Gooseberry Patch cookbooks from other sites and brick and mortar stores, you may be charged a slightly higher rate. That's been my experience.
Purchasing From Gooseberry Patch
When you find what you want, add it to your shopping bag. When you're done, check out. That's how easy it is! You have the choice to register (which I did) or to just submit your order without going through that process.
Payment can be made by three credit cards - Visa, Mastercard, and Discover. You can choose to store your information (if you have an account), or not.
I find that their shipping charges are quite reasonable. My last order gulp was almost $200, and total shipping was $16.95. My order was shipped via UPS ground and arrived in three business days. They are in Ohio which explains how it arrived so quickly for me :).
Once you do place your order, you receive an email notification that details out your purchases. Discounts and coupons show up on it.
Quality of Merchandise
You never have to worry about your merchandise coming from Gooseberry Patch. Every thing arrives carefully packed. Cookbooks aren't dinged or worn, dishes aren't chipped or scratched, and candles arrive in one piece :). I’ve never, EVER had to return merchandise to them.
The End
If you like the type of merchandise offered by Gooseberry Patch then this is a very dangerous place to shop! An attractive web site + reasonable prices + fantastic customer service = lots of money spent there!
Recommended:
Yes
What product did you purchase or try to purchase? Cookbooks
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About the Author
Member: Kristina Frazier-Henry
Location: Indiana
Reviews written: 1345
Trusted by: 1155 members
About Me: Cannot breathe. Missing Barbara.
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