Wednesday, November 11, 2009

A rolling we will go -Carry Cruiser market cart

Carry Cruiser by Reisenthel

A couple of years ago I was in Paris with some friends.  We noticed a trend of people shopping with stylish/rolling market carts.  Being that I'm a farmers' market shopper, I was wondering how this could translate for my shopping at home.  There really aren't a lot of stylish, yet functional market carts available.  Then I saw the Carry Cruiser.  I figured that since it is by Reisenthel, who many stores carry in the US, that I would be able to get one at home.  I was wrong.  I had to order from design-3000.de, the German distributor for Reisenthel.


Now you know, I'm stubborn.  Once I see a product that I know will work for me, I usually track it down.  In this instance, I had to order it from Germany.  Thank goodness the website had a British translation.  But, once again, I was paying import fees and crazy shipping because I could not find the product in the US.

What makes this cart special?  I got to pick from a nice selection of fabrics.  The cart has sturdy wheels to tote it around.  The handle telescopes, so I can put it easily into the car and store it at home.  The handle is also tall enough for me to cart it comfortably.  It also has a shoulder carry strap for helping carry the cart up stairs.  The cart itself is wide enough to load in my farmers' market treasures without smashing everything like those tall carts.  Lastly it has a fabric drawstring closure for the top, when I've bought so much it's overflowing.


Now, you don't have to go to Europe for one of these, or even order from Germany.  Finally they are distributing them in the US.  Just Google "Carry Cruiser Reisenthel" and pick from a number of sites.  You might think I'm bummed that I had to buy my cart from overseas.  It turns out to be a good thing I did.  After 2 solid years of use, my handle broke off.  It seemed to be an easy enough to replace, but there were no domestic places that had access to this part.  Luckily design-3000.de was as helpful as before and for a slight shipping fee, sent me 2 of the handles.

I paid 149 euros (including shipping).  Today I saw it for $159 +s/h online

Happy shopping!