| Share it

ADVERTISEMENT

EFFINGHAM, Ill. – Almost 50 percent of 68-year-old Catherine Ramsey’s household décor items have been traced back to Cracker Barrel gift shops along Interstates 70 and 57 in southern Illinois, a new retail analysis reveals.

According to an investigation by RetailTrak into the makeup of Ramsey’s interior decoration, 48 percent of all non-necessity items originated from two Cracker Barrel stores within 20 miles of Ramsey’s home near the small town of Neoga.

"Our study reconstructs the Sunday brunch and weekday errand activities of the subject, Mrs. Ramsey," said Bill Markson, RetailTrak’s lead retail analyst. "Multiple introductions to the restaurant’s gift shop in a given week explain why knick knacks of Cracker Barrel origin are so extensive within the subject’s home."

Items traced back to a Cracker Barrel in Mattoon, a city 15 miles northeast of Ramsey’s residence, include a cup and saucer set, a ceramic lamp, and a heart-shaped birdhouse, all American flag-themed.

While the study only focused on home decoration items, research concluded that Ramsey also frequently purchases edibles, such as corn muffin mix and horehound candy drops, from the country-cooking eatery’s retail section.  

“I don’t know what horehound candy drops are,” said Tim Ramsey, Catherine Ramsey’s son, who received a lamp shaped like a church, complete with a stained glass shade, from his mother for Christmas. “But I was pretty sure where she got them.”

Ramsey, a retired 5^th grade teacher, visits the Cracker Barrel restaurant in Mattoon every Sunday for brunch with a group of friends from her church, and frequently stops by a location in Effingham, a city about 20 miles southwest of her home, during the course of her weekly errands.

“Sometimes I just like to stop by and see what’s new in the gift shop,” said Ramsey, who proudly held up salt and pepper shakers in the likenesses of roosters, which were purchased at the Effingham Cracker Barrel location. “I found these on sale for $9.99 so it was a good thing I stopped in when I did. They probably would have been gone by the next day.”

RetailTrak also determined that Ramsey’s home is far from its decorative saturation point, finding that the increasing trend of Cracker Barrel items will likely continue.

“I would expect that given the current trend, up to 60 percent of the decoration items in [Ramsey’s] home will be Cracker Barrel-spawned by the end of the year,” said Markson, after expressing surprise someone could still locate and purchase a Raggedy Ann doll. “That’s what we usually see with situations like these. Once a subject purchases the cupcake stand, the polka dot-lined basket and brown ceramic chicken eggs aren’t far behind.”