Give the gift that keeps on giving — from a Jam and Jelly Club to a Dog Treat Club

By Stan Ashbee
Westwind Weekly News

There’s nothing quite like getting a gift in the mail, especially when that gift could be enrolment in a Jam and Jelly Club. Cousin Eddie said it best on the beloved holiday classic “Christmas Vacation” — “Clark, that’s the gift that keeps on giving the whole year.”

Canada’s Amazing Clubs allows Canadians from coast-to-coast to send Gift of the Month Clubs to the hard to buy for or those who would appreciate something a little bit different. Rural Alberta is a great market for purchasing someone the perfect gift online and have it sent directly to them — you will be crowned the Greatest Gift-Giver of All-Time.

Clubs featured include beer, wine, coffee, hot sauce, barbecue sauce, breakfast, candle, candy, cheese, chocolate, cookie, dog treat, fruit, jam and jelly, jerky, necktie, olive oil, pasta, PB and J, peanut butter, salsa, tea, teddy bear, and the Variety Club. Or a gift certificate can be sent, so the one receiving the gift can choose which club is best. Gift-givers can also custom tailer gifts by choosing the number of shipments (on every budget) and the frequency of deliveries.

Heather Panchyshyn, director of operations, explained the company was started by CEO Micah Johnston. “He went looking for a gift for his grandmother who lived in British Columbia and he was in Ontario. Trying to come up with different ideas, he came across all these gift clubs in the United States. He tried to purchase from them and there was just nothing available and nothing he could do. It was something that just sat with him and he thought about it.”

What Johnston wanted was a chocolate club, she noted, and he eventually started up out of his basement in 2009 and it just grew. “Eventually it became Amazing Clubs, as we partnered with them in 2011.”

According to Panchyshyn, it’s a different market in Canada, as there just wasn’t a lot available. “Our population is so spread out. Finding gifts that can reach people in all sorts of different areas — it can be more challenging. It’s a great fit and fun experience.”

“The best way to find out about it is when somebody gives it to you and it just shows up at your door,” she joked.

Beer and wine clubs are the most popular, followed by the Variety Club, which gives customers the option to customize and mix and match from any of the clubs. “We like our beer and our wine in Canada,” she joked.

One of the great things about the clubs is to let gift-getters try product not easily available, especially in Alberta. “That is definitely the goal of each of our clubs — to try and create and send out product that is kind of unique,” she said, adding items shipped are products the lucky individual receiving the gift won’t find on their local grocery shelves.
“It is truly a different taste experience for people,” she noted. The clubs are amazing for corporate gifts too.

Panchyshyn said the clubs are great for letting friends or loved ones know you are thinking of them month after month. “Because they’re going to keep receiving it. It’s kind of that reminder. It’s just not that one time gift.”

As for that Jam and Jelly of the Month Club, one of the most memorable orders Panchyshyn has ever seen is a Jam and Jelly Club given to The Griswolds — no joke. “There were people that actually had that name here in Canada. I actually had to look it up to see if that truly was their address. I thought maybe they put down a fake name,” she joked.

Get More Westwind Weekly →