A Trip to Harry and David's

Today, we had a reservation for a 1:45 tour at Harry and David's in Medford.
But, first, we had to make another stop for a watercraft inspection on I-5 going into Medford.
Not again!

When Dave made the reservation for the tour, he was encouraged to schedule on Thursday rather than Friday because a lot of departments don't work on Friday at this time of year.  This is their store, where the tour begins, and, of course, you can look around at all of the goodies.  We were sorry to learn that the pears they are shipping now are from New Zealand.  One of the produce employees told Dave that they aren't nearly as good as their famous Royal Riviera pears which are picked in September and available in October.

Our tour guide, Carla, made a stop at one of the buildings and in the foyer were these three "Towers of Gifts" which is what they are famous for.  Who knew that one of them was a refrigerator that held the treats for us!

This gal is "helping" some truffles come out of the mold.

There's melted white chocolate on that wheel and it will be drizzled on top of the newly molded truffles.

The Quality Control Inspector is picking out the truffles that aren't up to par.  They will later make their way to the employee break room or be put in containers for sale in the store.  They aren't treated as nicely in their packaging as the "perfect" ones. 

Christmas-time is Harry and David's busiest season.  At this time, there is about 2,000 employees.  The numbers start increasing in July and eventually get up to about 10,000 employees before  Christmas.  Seventy per cent of their business is their Christmas orders.