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When we started this company back in 2013, I was an avid online shopper.  But now that I own an online store, I am much more careful about what websites I purchase from.  It's disappointing to see the direction online sales have taken lately, and it's something I think most customers aren't aware of. 

You might notice that we try to emphasize the fact that we purchase all of our products direct from the manufacturers in Poland.  We store every product we sell in our facility.  We hand pack each order, inspecting the product to make sure it meets our quality standards.  And the reason we advertise these practices is because this way of doing business online is very unusual.

We personally photograph every product we sell

Most online stores utilize drop shipping warehouses.  They never actually see or touch the products they sell.  They will pick items from a catalog and import a premade listing and photographs of the products.  When a customer purchases the product, a computer program automatically sends the information to the drop shipping warehouse, which packs and ships the product direct to the customer.  The online store which sold the product will never handle the product directly. 

While this practice of selling products that you have never actually possessed seems inauthentic, it's even worse when a seller will take advantage of a customers to make money while contributing nothing.  This NPR piece does a great job of explaining a practice that is becoming all too common. 

"Sellers on Amazon find their products being resold on eBay without permission for a markup, with middlemen capitalizing on the efficiency of online shopping to make an extra buck."

You can listen to or read the full article here.

We don't agree with, support or condone these kind of sales.  We will never participate in an agreement which would take advantage of our customers.  We have had many websites request to sell our products in a drop shipping arrangement, and we always decline.  Of course we could grow our business if we agreed, but it would be at a disservice to our customers if we did.  The only wholesale agreements we enter into are with companies who purchase our products to be shipped to their location before reselling. 

Fermenting Crocks packed and ready to ship in our own warehouse

So what does this mean for you, our customers?  First, if you see our products sold on Ebay or Amazon, please be sure that the seller is listed as Stone Creek Trading.  If not, you are most likely being charged more or will receive a counterfeit product.  In almost every situation, you will always get the best price by buying direct from our website. 

Secondly, be aware of your online shopping choices.  Do your research and make sure you are purchasing the product direct from the company who makes or sells it.  Check Amazon, Ebay and the companies website before you make a purchase to ensure that you aren't paying an inflated price that will actually be shipped from a different website with a lower cost.

If you managed to read this whole article, thank you!  The subject of authentic, honest business practices is something I care passionately about and one of the core principles of our business.  We want our customers to be aware and informed. And when you purchase a product from us, you are supporting this traditional way of doing business!

Our recent trip to Poland gave us an important opportunity to not only source new products, but also meet many of our suppliers in person.  Typically, our product sourcing is handled by Kryz's father - Jacek.  He visits markets and looks for small companies in Poland who make products that fit in with our focus.  He will purchase a sample item and include it in our shipments, or send us photos or have a Facetime meeting.  This works ok, but nothing compares to being able to shop in person!

I could have spent all day at each one of the wood suppliers that we visited.  Each shelf had so many different items, in a variety of shapes and wood species. 

It was so hard to choose what items we wanted to restock and what new items to include.  Even looking back through these photos now, I see items we didn't buy that I wish we had!  Luckily, Jacek is in Poland and can always go back and get something we forgot!

Just look at all of these cutting boards!  So beautiful all stacked up.  And these cutting boards are only one shape, there also were stacks of round, oval, endless options!

Visiting these companies also made us realize how different manufacturing is in Poland vs. the United States.  Most of these wood product businesses are located at someone's home.  Next to the house is a "pole barn" type building were the business is located.  They don't have business hours per se, they just walk out to the building when someone pulls up.  They usually have a couple employees working back in the building where the items are made, and the owner will be the one handling the part where they sell goods.  Home based businesses are the norm in Poland, and it doesn't seem weird to pull into someone's driveway to shop for wholesale items! 

If you've bought wood items from us in the past, most likely they came from this building! Isn't it cool to see where your products come from?

I'm sure you are wondering if any of the items in these photos will soon be offered in our shop.  The great news is that our shipment with everything we picked out on our trip is due to arrive in the United States tomorrow!  Of course, we have no idea how long it will take to clear customs and make the trip to us here in Chicagoland, but hopefully sometime in the next two weeks we will have some of these beautiful spoons (and many more products) in our possession!

Today I want to share with you some photos from the other markets we visited on our recent new product sourcing trip to Poland.  In addition to the traditional "farmer's" markets for produce that I shared last week, there are many markets focused on goods.  We visited these markets as part of our product sourcing activities.

The market in Zakopane is popular with locals and tourists alike.  Zakopane is a mountain resort town in the Carpathian Mountains which we love visiting.  It has lots of fun activities as well beautiful scenery.  This particular booth is run by one of our suppliers.  We stopped in to see some of his new products as well as pick up a few items for our latest shipment.  I loved all these beautiful wood products!

Almost every tourist site we stopped at also had a number of market booths set up.  These would sell your typical themed tourist items as well as locally made goods.  It was a great place to scope out new products as our daughters loved all the tourist gifts, and we were able to focus on the local goods!

In addition to finding new products, it's also fun to see some of our existing products for sale in Poland.  Our folk art umbrellas feature a design which is very popular in Poland right now.  It was fun to see them for sale here at a booth in the Cloth Market in the main square in Krakow. 

However, when you are looking for unique products, you can't just visit the popular tourist markets.  We also visited this huge market in Nowy Targ, Poland.  This market is very different from the other markets because it is mostly for locals, not tourists.  Nowy Targ is only 5km from the border with Slovakia.  Many people from Slovakia will travel to this market in Poland to buy goods because the prices in Poland are much cheaper than Slovakia.  You could spend days in this market and not see it all.  We saw everything from baby strollers, to horse tack, to iron work, to piglets and cows for sale!

We spent our time in these markets getting ideas of products that are available.  Next week I will share about the next step in the process - visiting the suppliers who actually make the goods we found in the markets! Stay tuned for more details on our recent Poland trip!

Since I shared about our experience visiting Farmer's Markets in Poland last week, I thought today I would share about what we made from something we purchased at the market.  Fermented Pickles of course! 

My father-in-law, the head of our operations in Poland, purchased the cucumbers at the market.  We sometimes struggle to find the right kind of cucumbers at markets or in stores here.  But there were plenty to choose from at a number of vendors booths at the market in Nowy Sacz.

When we got them home, we quickly set them to ferment.  While we more or less follow the recipe that comes included with our crocks, my father-in-law is much more of a "wild" fermenter.  He doesn't measure anything, but just puts in whatever he feels like!  While this is scary for some people, his pickles always taste amazing, so he must be doing something right!

You might be wondering what this fermenting vessel is that the pickles are in.  We are always looking for new products that are made in Poland.  To make sure that we only offer the best to our customers, we typically try the products ourselves for a while before we offer them for sale.  We are testing out a large glass jar that would come with our Luna Glass Crock Weights!  If it looks like something you might be interested in, send me an email - emily@stonecreektrading.com. 

After only 3 days, these pickles tasted amazing!  We had them with every meal, especially breakfast.  Breakfast in Poland is typically a savory meal consisting of bread, eggs and deli meats and cheeses.  So the pickles were the perfect complimentary taste!

While our 6 year old is not a fan of fermented pickles, our 18 month old couldn't get enough of her Dziadek's pickles.  She was not happy with us when we told her she couldn't have anymore.  If we would have let her, I think she would have eaten the whole jar on her own!

And even if we didn't have time to ferment some pickles ourselves while in Poland, we could have always bought some at the supermarket!  It was really cool to see 2 varieties of fermented pickles and fermented sauerkraut available in the produce section of one of the big supermarkets in town.  I'd love to see more of this here in the US!

Are all these photos of delicious fermented pickles making you hungry?  Then go make some for yourself!  We have lots of options of fermenting vessels for sale on the website.  If you want to follow the recipe for our version of Polish Fermented Pickles, you can check out an early blog post here where we shared the recipe we include with our crocks!  Enjoy!

Today I am sharing more information from our recent trip to Poland.  We spent a lot of time visiting markets throughout the small towns in Southern Poland.  It was amazing to see the variety and quantity of items offered. 

Almost every town has a market at least one day a week and the larger towns have a market every day.  The market in Kryz's hometown of Nowy Sacz is everyday, and we visited multiple times during our trip. 

Similar to a farmer's market in America, there is a large section with fresh produce.  However, the variety of produce available in May was much larger than what we are seeing now in Illinois.  This is because there are many greenhouses throughout the countryside that allow tomatoes and cucumbers to be grown in cooler months.  And of course, some of the items are imported, as they are labeled. The culture in Poland is still practices shopping locally for food multiple times a week instead of large shopping trips to supermarkets.

I also love this section of the market.  These tables are set up for anyone to use.  If you have some extra produce you want to sell, you just lay it out on the table and offer it for sale.  Many people will use these tables to make a little extra money off the surplus items they grow and raise for themselves.  In addition to produce, we saw many people selling eggs, cheese and even chickens!

There are also many booths selling goods as well.  People in Poland have a tradition of frequenting markets for their shopping.  Many people still don't have or use a car regularly, and with the new large supermarkets being located on the outskirts of town, these markets in the town center are used for many purchases.  We loved these booths which featured goods made in Poland.  From novelty, to decorative to functional, Poland has a so many products to offer!

I've got lots more to share with you in the coming weeks, so stay tuned!  Next up I will share about two other large markets we visited!

We are back from our new product scouting trip to Poland!  It was a wonderful trip meeting with our suppliers and seeking out new products to offer.  I can't wait to share our adventures with you!  In the meantime, we are all caught up with orders and back on track with our typical 1-2 day shipping processing time.  Now if we could just recover from the jet lag!

We did a lot on this trip, so I'm going to break up a recap over multiple blog posts.  Today I'm going to start with some more personal updates before getting into the business side of things. 

This trip was very important to our family as it is the first time that our daughters were able to visit Kryz's hometown of Nowy Sacz, Poland.  It was a special opportunity to meet many of their dad's family members for the first time.  We also explored the region visiting many popular tourist sites to break up the business meetings and make it more fun for a 6 year old and 18 month old!

While traveling throughout the area, we crossed over the Kamienica several times.  It was great to see the "Stone Creek" that gave our business it's name.  And just like our logo, the Kamienica wiggles its way through the region, meaning we crossed back and forth over it many, many times!

We enjoyed visiting many of the popular tourist sites in Poland.  The salt mines in Wieliczka are so unique and beautiful.  This cathedral is over 100 meters underground and completely carved from salt!

Of course, we also had to visit Wawel Castle in Krakow.  This amazing complex of structures surrounds a courtyard.  And of course, we had to explore the cave below where the legendary Smok dragon lived!

I hope you enjoy this little glimpse into the fun side of our trip.  Keep an eye on the blog for more of the business related aspects of our trip coming soon!

We know that in this day and age everyone expects fast shipping.  As a "mom and pop internet shop" we do our best to keep our processing time to 1-2 business days, even during our busiest months.  But because we are committed to giving you the highest quality products, packed in the best way possible, we choose to keep all shipping in house.  That means when we need to be away to take care of other aspects of the business, we occasionally need to have longer order processing times. 

We will be taking a short break to check in with our suppliers to make sure the products they make are up to our quality standards.  In addition, we will be looking for more natural products to add to our website.  We would love to hear what items you would like to see at Stone Creek Trading .  Send an email to emily@stonecreektrading.com with your suggestions and we will see what we can find!

If you have an urgent need for something from Stone Creek Trading, be sure to place your order before midnight on Tuesday, May 10 to ensure it ships before we temporarily halt shipping.  We will begin shipping orders again on Sunday, May 22.  You can still place your order at any time, but we will hold all orders until the 22nd to begin shipping in the order they were received.   Customer service will continue during this time, but response times may be a little slower.

To make up for this temporary shipping delay, we are offering a free Wood Mushroom Nutcracker ($10 value) to all orders placed between Wednesday May 11 through Saturday May 21.  No code needed, we'll add them to all orders once we begin shipping again.  Thanks again for your support as we grow our business!