Print Coverage

By Maria Puente, USA Today

What's not to like about online shopping, especially during the holiday season? Its appeal can be summed up thusly: it's convenience, stupid.

Of course, some e-commerce sites are more convenient than others. But even the most exasperating Web retailer is getting better - or at least becoming preferable to the ever-growing aggravation of holiday mall shopping: the traffic, the parking, the crowds, the understaffed and understocked stores, the longest lines at registers.

Every year since the dawn of e-commerce in the mid-1990s, millions more American consumers have been fed up enough to stay home - at least some of the season - and commune with their computers. And every year it gets easier, faster and better.

"There's nothing worse than ordering something online and then finding out a week later by e-mail that it's out of stock," says Bill Ihle, a senior vice president of Harry and David. The fruit-gift company started out in 1934 as a direct-mail operation; now it has catalogs, stores, and an inventory-linked Web site. "We've always known customers like to shop at the last minute, and we pride ourselves on being able to respond." ... more >>

Press Coverage

SAN FRANCISCO, CA - Harry and David, the nation’s leading food-gift company since 1934, opens its first store in the heart of San Francisco on Saturday, November 2 at 9:30a.m. Located at the Westin St. Francis (335 Powell Street) on Union Square, the 1,500 square foot store is one of more than 120 Harry and David stores nationwide that carry an assortment of premium chocolate and candy confections, snacks, condiments, specialty food Gift Baskets, seasonal fresh fruit gifts and signature Towers of Treats. Harry and David began as the first gourmet fruit ... more >>