Their pears are at Trader Joe’s this year. They were good, but not $40 good (they were $8 for 6 I think).

I don’t know that Harry & David is tacky, but it’s extremely commonplace. Personally, I don’t like their food, except for the cinnamon roll and - surprisingly - a pretty good fruitcake. Moose munch and the chocolate covered dried fruit make me gag. The pears have been pretty ordinary in my experience. I do give them points, however, for presentation; the packages are very nicely done and they have beautiful baskets (which I keep).

Personally, I’d much rather have a deli meat sampler, baked goods like babka and rugelach, or a smoked salmon/bagel spread. But I always get Harry & David.

I like it and I'm pretty particular about food

What do you think we are, invalids? We can't go out and get our own fruit?

I don’t know about fruits from there. Expensive to ship and we have great grocery stores here. Not tacky just overpriced. Other food items better.

I would get the pears. It's not that theother stuff is tacky, its that no one really wants it. The pears are a special treat.

I think the fruit is fine, but their cheeses and baked goods are not very good. For cheese, I order from Murray's. Would do Cheesetique if local. For baked goods, I'd look on Goldbelly.

I think a tower of treats in and of itself is tacky, regardless of the company doing it.

Harry & David is not Olive Garden. Maybe Legal Seafood?

I would have suggested Dean and DeLuca, but it seems they went teats up last year.

The H and D have been terrific. In our family, I have a tradition of making a spinach pear salad for a huge group on Christmas Eve -not this year of course. One of my close relatives who can’t join sends us all a hello by sending these pears for everyone to enjoy. It has been a very reliable and nice addition to the meal. For chocolates, I would tend to go another direction as I haven’t found there is to be anything that unique. But the pears, oh my, the pears.

Anonymous wrote:I like Harry and David and would be happy to receive a tower. This year I sent my team Stonewall Kitchen gift baskets. I got an Olive and Cocoa from a vendor and it was pretty bad. I threw most of it away.

Stonewall Kitchen baskets must be good. Most of them are sold out until next year!

In my family getting something from Harry & David is considered a very, very, very nice gift. I get my parents gifts from Harry & David very frequently. They are always very happy about it. Sometimes it is fruit, sometimes it is a pie or cake. I send Harry & David to other friends and family, too. In fact, I just sent a Harry & David order off to one of our friends, who is on the Forbes top 100 list. I know as soon as he gets the package I'll get a call and he will be ecstatic. I'm not saying $ is a sign of his class or taste but I wouldn't send a "tacky" gift to any of our friends. There are some people here who think that everything is tacky. IMO it is a sign of their own insecurities (especially the "moved on" poster...sheesh, how patronizing under the guise of being "helpful" and guiding you) and not anything else. I wouldn't let it bother you OP. If someone loves it then they love it.

I like Harry and David and would be happy to receive a tower. This year I sent my team Stonewall Kitchen gift baskets. I got an Olive and Cocoa from a vendor and it was pretty bad. I threw most of it away.

I like the pears.

I'd love to receive one and I occasionally send them to parents and grandparents and have always gotten rave reviews. But if your recipient is super snooty maybe they would think it's to pedestrian.