442 



HORTICULTURE 



March 25, 1911 



RET7\IL STORE MANAGEMENT 



A Paper Prepared for the Detroit Florist Club by Irwin Bertermann of Indianapolis 



The retail flower business may well 

 be classified in two well defined parts 

 — the commercial and the ideal. It is 

 most essential that the sterner force 

 which propels the larger industries be 

 combined with that more subtle and 

 delicate artistic loving nature. It is 

 not enough to master the art of buy- 

 ing and selling — it is necessary to live 

 the veritable life of the flower; to love 

 and to be able to personally arrange 

 them in beautiful combinations, or to 

 constantly teach others to imbue them 

 with a masterful individuality. The 

 retail storeman, to gain prominence, 

 must be a composite of the Italian with 

 his love of art; the German with his 

 perseverance and perfection of detail; 

 the Persian with his knowledge of col- 

 or; and, last but not least, the leader 

 of the van with salesmanship and push 

 — our Yanliee. 



Some of the flower dealers lean more 

 toward one qualification than to an- 

 other. One well-lvnown retailer, who 

 possesses a fine knowledge of figures 

 and segregation, manages his business 

 efficiently and in entirety from his of- 

 fice; another, with an Innate taste for 

 the beautiful, manages directly among 

 the flowers and throws bookkeeping, 

 figuratively speaking, to others. Suf- 

 fice it to say that no matter which pol- 

 icy a retailer pursues personally he 

 must be most careful that not one or 

 the other be forgotten in rounding out 

 a business. 



Commercialism Indispensable. 



There is more commercialism in the 

 flower business than there was ten 

 yeais ago and there will be more In 

 the future, so it behooves all who 

 would be in at the "survival of the fit- 

 test" — harsh though that may sound — 

 to adopt the bulwark of the larger 

 Amerioan industries and apply system 

 throughout. Individuality has its mer- 

 its and the storeman who arranges 

 flowers with taste and skill is to be 

 admired as a creator of the finer arts, 

 but like all others must become a unit 

 where the great volume of trade is 

 subservient to the iron hand. It takes 

 no more exertion for a man to do a 

 large business under a system than it 

 does to do a very small one without 

 such advantage, and, if anything, the 

 favor comes to the larger as it Is 

 certainly more of a pleasure and a 

 credit to manage it. 



Where the Foreigner Leads. 

 The foreign trade papers are. or 

 should be, a source of much learning. 

 Years of plodding has taught the older 

 countries an insight into perfected de- 

 tail which is hard to discover among 

 ourselves. Our goal has rightfully and 

 honorably been the dollar, but for the 

 sake of finer beauty and success, also 

 more dollars, it is well to take notice 



of the beautiful wreaths, baskets, and 

 easel arrangements of Russia, Ger- 

 many, France and England. 



Using the Window. 

 We are storemen in a wonderful 

 country. The growers are producing 

 elegant stock, so let the retailer show 

 nature's productions in their most ex- 

 quisite arrangement. The cost per 

 hour of a well-decorated window is in , 

 direct proportion to the amount of ' 

 store rent paid. A well-arranged win- 

 dow is one of the best advertisements 

 a dealer may have and it should al- 

 ways be of utmost importance to keep 

 the same trimmed in excellent taste. 

 Unlike other lines of trade, the florist 

 has the finest material at hand, and 

 rarely is it necessary to introduce oth- 

 er materials to make it attractive. In 

 fact goods other than those regularly 

 supplied as accessories should be dis- 

 couraged in featuring a window. There 

 is nothing in better taste than flowers 

 and as we derive our livelihood there- 

 from, why promote other attractions? 

 Harmony in color, by alloting a whole 

 or a distinct part to one shade of flow- 

 er, adds much to the general appear- 

 ance of the window. 



Automobiles. 



Many of the storemen are adding 

 automobiles to their chattels and the 

 concensus of opinion seems to have 

 relegated the liorse to the past. The 

 urgent time calls; the long hours and 

 the important events of life with 

 which the retailers have to contend 

 make automobile delivery of peculiar 

 value to the retailer and it should be 

 encouiaged as a useful rather than an 

 extravagant pai t of the equipment. 

 Let it be omnipresent, though, that we 

 are florists and are not endeavoring to 

 degenerate into a greasy garage man- 

 ager as he can do repairing much bet- 

 ter and more economically while we 

 are engaged with a fancy customer. 



Value of Novelties. 

 Most important is it for the leading 

 retailers to produce or to deal in nov- 

 elties. It would be a grand thing were 

 it possible to sell the same article each 

 year, but destiny will not have it so. 

 Catering to the public makes it imper- 

 ative to have something new or novel 

 at all times. The flowers need not be 

 new from the trade standpoint, but it 

 is requisite to have a refreshing 

 change for the flower lovers. There 

 are created styles in flowers and they 

 keep changing. What was regarded as 

 old and uninteresting a generation pre- 

 vious may be a good selling article at 

 present. Antirrhinum, bouvardia and 

 Bon Silene roses were favorites with 

 our grandmothers, but are again in 

 style right now, made up with paper 

 holders as used during Napoleon's 

 reign. Mignonette, pansies, forget-me- 

 not, and carnations will never grow 

 old, but the grower and retailer should 

 conspire to present something differ- 

 ent at all times. Novel arrangements 

 are as essential as novel flowers and 

 no opportunity should be overlooked 

 in placing before the public a new and 



meritorious combination of nature's 

 wares. Corsage bouquets made of old- 

 er varieties of flowers have grown won- 

 derfully in demand and are a source of 

 much revenue to the present day 

 dealer. 



Furthering the Counter Trade. 

 At least forty per cent, of the store- 

 men's business might properly be clas- 

 sified as counter trade, so the impor- 

 tance of packing flowers carefully in 

 a neat box of up-to-date pattern and 

 adding a few finishing touches in the 

 way of ribbons. Farleynse ferns and 

 flowers must not be overlooked. Coun- 

 ter trade is a certain barometer of the 

 state of trade, and, like that instru- 

 ment, fluctuates quickly. The many 

 details in connection with this impor- 

 tant branch are often ably taken in 

 hand by able retail correspondents of 

 the florists' press. Their ideas may 

 often be enlarged upon and the incen- 

 tive given the fagged, but energetic, 

 shopman is not to be underestimated. 

 It is up to him to effect an opening 

 for the great mass of flowers thrown 

 upon the market by millions of feet 

 of glass, and any suggestion in further- 

 ing their sale is of immense general 

 value. 



About Advertising. 

 "Take care of your business and 

 your business will take care of you," 

 as Poor Richard's Almanac had it. is 

 certainly an axiom worthy of every 

 retailer. The flower business is not 

 so conducive of financial results such 

 as are found in other commercial lines, 

 but the instances are few in which the 

 returns are not suflicient, provided the 

 above axiom is closely adhered to. 

 Opinions differ greatly as to the best 

 method of advertising. There are many 

 effective ways. Some use newspapers, 

 others magazines, some programmes 

 and others nothing at all in the way of 

 printer's ink, but make up for it in 

 actual energy in their display of flow- 

 ers and in the class of goods furnished. 

 All of those mentioned and others re- 

 ceived the support of the public it done 

 in an energetic manner and supported 

 in actual facts. 



Telegraph Delivery. 

 One of the most promising institu- 

 tions — The Florists' Telegraph Deliv- 

 ery — is still in its infancy. The amount 

 of business transacted mutually be- 

 tween cities is no small one, and with 

 the plan outlined by the president of 

 the association, J. A. Valentine, gener- 

 ally accepted this source of revenue 

 should be greatly increased. No re- 

 tail florist in the larger cities could af- 

 ford to be without the protection and 

 advantages thus offered at a minimum 

 cost. 



Standards Advancing. 



Orchids and gardenias — articles De 

 Luxe a few years ago — have become 

 staple articles in cities with over 200,- 

 000 population. Custom may complain 

 at times that prices are high for fancy 

 flowers, but still it is seemingly the 

 unusual and the higher-priced goods 

 which satisfies. The flower standard 

 grows higher each year so the retailer 



