The World’s Largest Basket Remains Empty
Coordinates: 40.06339426693008, -82.34666267562572
Overview:
| History | Date |
| Dave Longaberger opens the company | 1973 |
| Longaberger starts selling baskets | 1978 |
| Headquarters moves to Newark, Ohio | 1997 |
| Dave Longaberger passes away | 1999 |
| Sales peak at $1 billion | 2000 |
| Sales drop to around $100 million | 2012 |
| CVSL Inc. takes over Longaberger | 2013 |
| Tami Longaberger resigns | 2015 |
| Longaberger building is sold | 2016 |
| Longaberger ceases all operations | 2018 |
| Longaberger is purchased by Xcel | 2019 |
Longaberger has a difficult challenge ahead of it. It must appeal to younger consumers while retaining the loyalty of its longtime supporters. It also has to evolve to stay one step ahead of competitors.
In recent years, Longaberger baskets haven’t sold as well as they used to, but the company is trying to turn things around. It has a dedicated team of direct-sales consultants who continue to sell Longaberger baskets through their website. They also remain available on QVC.
The company was opened by Dave Longaberger in 1973. They used multi-level marketing as a means to sell their products, and at the time reigned as one of the primary employers in Dresden, Ohio, before moving their headquarters to Newark, Ohio in 1997.
In the ’90s, Longaberger baskets grew to incredible popularity, but grabbing one of these baskets today can cost you hundreds of dollars. The company used home sales consultants to sell the products during its more popular years, and by the 2000s, sales topped $1 billion. Unfortunately, Dave Longaberger had passed away only a year prior. The business was left in the hands of his daughter, Tami Longaberger.
Longaberger employed more than 8,200 people, with over 45,000 independent distributors that the company called Home Consultants selling their products. Home Consultants would meet directly with customers at their homes to sell them Longaberger baskets.
While the company was opened in 1973, they didn’t immediately start selling baskets, but offered numerous other home products. It wasn’t until 1978 that Longaberger would start selling their handwoven baskets, which would quickly come to grow in popularity with consumers. Each basket was unique, handmade, signed and dated by the maker. Not long after the company’s peak, the US was hit by a recession, which in combination with an overall taste in home decor changing, led to a huge drop in the company’s sales of Longaberger baskets. The company’s sales had dropped from $1 billion in the early 2000s, to only about $100 million in 2012. Holding company CVSL Inc. took over the Longaberger company in 2013. In 2015, Tami Longaberger resigned as chief executive officer and director of the company.
It was announced in 2016 that the Longaberger Basket building would be sold off, and the company would move all of its employees to their factory in Frazeysburg, Ohio. At this time, the company employed less than 75 full-time and part-time employees, with only about 30 of them still making baskets.
It wasn’t long after this in May of 2018 that the company had ceased all operations, and shortly after in June filed for bankruptcy. The brand saw a small revival in 2019, when Xcel Brands purchased the company’s intellectual property, and signed a licensing agreement with basket-weavers Dresden & Co. Tami and her sister both stepped in to take part in the re-launch. The company was rebranded to include the sales of artisan home goods, food procuts, furniture and more, and a strong focus was shifted towards advertisement via social media.
The “Big Basket” as it is known today, is a very notable piece and great example of novelty architecture, modeled after the company’s most popular product, the “Medium Market Basket.” The basket remains empty today as it sits overlooking Ohio’s State Route 16, and is a well-known local landmark. Since 2018 the famous basket building has sat empty, awaiting a hopeful future reuse plan, possibly as apartments. I guess I’d pay the extra money to live in a giant, iconic basket.
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