Giften Market has more than 800 items to choose from. This is just a small sample of items for the holidays. Photos: Giften Market; Madeline Elli Photography
Martha Krueger is a self-proclaimed serial entrepreneur, who makes custom and premade gift boxes for all occasions. “I had the idea stewing in my head for maybe four or five years,” she says.
Krueger’s inspiration was born of necessity. Anytime she needed to send a gift for a birthday or another special occasion, she would search high and low and couldn’t find the perfect item.
“It was out of personal frustration surrounding finding unique and thoughtful gifts for friends and family across the country,” that she founded Giften Market, she says. She launched her company in May 2020 right around Mother’s Day, which was also in peak COVID-19 lockdown.
Giften Market’s office and warehouse are located in west Edina. “We feel like we just kind of lucked out as we were looking,” Krueger says. “It’s a hybrid office warehouse space on Cahill Road, and when I toured it I thought, ‘Oh, this is just the perfect setup, the perfect location.’”
It’s also the perfect business for her. “I personally love creating things from scratch, kind of seeing a problem and coming up with a creative solution,” she says.
Martha Krueger, founder and CEO of Giften Market.
Krueger says her goal is to make products aesthetically pleasing and cohesive. She says her “aha moment” happened rather quickly when big-name corporations started making orders—even though it was still a small startup.
“When I started seeing some of the company names like New York Times, Sesame Street, Twitch, Facebook, Pinterest, General Mills, UnitedHealth Group, I thought, ‘Wow, I think we’re really onto something here,’” she says.
Giften Market has two main box categories: Build Your Own (BYO) and Ready-to-Ship. With the BYO, customers can curate their gift boxes to include any of the 800 plus items on the Giften website, from self-care to sweet treats.
“What’s cool about the BYO is you can really control the price point,” she says. “Some people spend $50, [and] we’ve had people spend closer to $400.” Krueger also says that many customers love the process of being intentional about their shopping and product selection. A corporate gift option allows companies to customize a gift box with a logo, colors and design.
Krueger says she always takes customer feedback into account. She’s made unscented chemotherapy boxes for cancer patients who are sensitive to smells. Giften also brought in a candle and skin care company last year and produces candles on-site, as well as manufacturing bath salts in-house.
Krueger says, “Above all, I want to make sure [our boxes have] things that people will actually use and enjoy.”
Giften Market
7483 Cahill Road; 952.260.7499
Instagram: @giftenmarket
