About Us
About The Basket Case
The Basket Case is located in Lewiston, Maine. Run from the home of Barbara Lauze, the majority of our business is gift baskets, but we specialize in creative gift-giving solutions. The Basket Case officially receives customer calls from 9am-5pm, Monday-Friday. Please note that at least 24-hours notice of all orders is required, and at least 48-hours notice of custom orders is required. If you require a particular item in your gift basket, it may need to be ordered.
We help our corporate and individual clients come up with creative gift-giving solutions that reflect their business or personality, and appeal directly to the recipient. Our gift-giving solutions elicit a “Wow!” reaction, and make people remember your gift.
The business is based on three principles:
- Creative Designs
- Empathetic Customer Service
- Quality Products
I’m in this business because I have something to offer the Lewiston-Auburn area: my creativity. I absolutely love to design a basket or gift-giving solution and deliver it to a person whose eyes light up as their mouth drops open. I know those are the kinds of gifts that companies and individuals want to give their friends, family and clients, but most people don’t have the time to come up with the designs that I have available.
My experience in the retail industry was another reason I wanted to have my own business. I distinctly remember one particular customer at a flower shop who had ordered a bouquet of flowers to be delivered on a specific day. Those flowers were not delivered at the right time, and his special surprise (for which he had paid a lot of money) was ruined. I was angry on the customer’s behalf, and completely shocked that the management wouldn’t do anything to make it up to him.
If something is wrong with your order, I will make it right.
I offer a range of products. I have budget-conscious gifts, which offer the style and look of an expensive gift, but with less expensive products. I also have baskets and specialty gift-giving solutions that are more expensive, due to the higher-quality products, or the labor that is involved in making them. What these two categories have in common is that all my gifts are put together with pride and care. I spend a lot of time working on new designs to make sure that the tastes complement each other, the colors coordinate, and that everything is securely placed in the basket.
About Pricing
Price is determined by a charge for labor (which includes shopping time) plus:
- the retail cost of the items in the basket, and the basket itself
- the cost of any materials used for stability (tape, styrofoam, tissue paper, shred)
- the cost of enhancements (flowers, cellophane, ribbon).
About the owner: Barbara Lauze
I was born and raised in Tennessee. I got a degree in Psychology at David Lipscomb University in Nashville, but decided not to pursue a graduate degree. I moved to Raleigh, North Carolina and had various jobs including flight attendant and proofreader. I briefly moved back to Tennessee to pursue my dream of owning my own business in 2003, but the deal fell through, so I ended up at Disney World in Orlando. I worked as a coordinator with the banquet managers at the Yacht & Beach Resort, then I briefly got the chance to be a character actor. For two months I bounced around all day as Tigger, with brief forays as Miss Piggy, Geppetto, and the evil queen from Snow White.
While in Orlando, I met a man named Abraham Lauze (pronounced “Lozy”), and I followed his pretty blue eyes back to his home state of Maine in 2005.
I had been thinking about starting a gift-basket business since 2002. I worked for a gift-basket company in Louisville, Kentucky during one Christmas, and I loved it!
After moving to Maine, I worked for two years at various jobs, but didn’t enjoy them. I was feeling more and more that I really wanted to have my own business, so I finally took the plunge in the summer of 2007.
This business is a complete joy for me and I am so grateful to my customers for making it possible!