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The Florists' Review 



Apbil 16. 1020 



»^ RETAIL STORE MANAGEMENT 



WHAT THE LEADERS IN THE TRADE ARE DOING 



WATCH THE WIRE ORDERS. 



They Grow Each Holiday. 



Once on a time wire orders were few 

 and far between. Now the business 

 has developed so that the monthly tele- 

 graph bill forms a considerable item in 

 the expenses of some retail florists. 

 The telegraph orders come throughout 

 the month, but of course they are much 

 heavier for special days. 



For Easter, as an instance, they 

 mounted to a large total in some florists ' 

 stores. One retailer in a large city 

 stated that he had received approxi- 

 mately 150 telegraph orders for the holi- 

 day. Few were below $5, he said, and 

 few were for exceedingly large amounts, 

 since his was not a store that did a 

 top-price business. They were chiefly 

 from $5 to $10. An average figure, he 

 stated, would be between $6 and $7. 

 The total business that came into his 

 store from other cities was, therefore, 

 close to $1,000. For this amount of 

 business he had no sales expense, no 

 selling force on the floor; all he needed 

 to do was to make up the orders and 

 send them out. He rightly figured that 

 this was an extremely profitable addi- 

 tion to his local holiday trade. 



Reports from the other florists tell a 

 like story. The figures are not so large, 

 naturally, in small communities, but 

 many enjoyed a proportion of telegraph 

 to local business quite as large as did 

 the florist mentioned. 



Mothers' Day Next. 



The size of the telegraph business for 

 each succeeding flower holiday has been 

 so encouraging that florists are making 

 preparations for those coming. Mothers' 

 day is next and then comes Memorial 

 day. The former has been a good day 

 for telegraph orders in previous years — 

 as the observance of the day has grown, 

 it has been more and more the custom 

 to telegraph an order back to the old 

 home for the second Sunday in May, 

 so that mother should have her flowers, 

 even if son or daughter were hundreds 

 or thousands of miles away. Mothers' 

 day has taken a strong grip on the 

 hearts of the American people; only the 

 days, such as Christmas, Easter, Memo- 

 rial day and Mother's day, which have 

 * strong sentiment as their support, make 

 truly great flower occasions. Mothers' 

 day is growing to be one of the greatest 

 of them all, for the maternal tie is 

 strongest of all ties and does not change 

 or wear with the passage of time. That 

 is the reason that the brief space of 

 eight years has made this day so splen- 

 did an occasion for florists. And, for 

 the reasons outlined above, more and 

 more telegraph business has been done 

 at that time. 



Make Pr^arations. 



This year will be no exception. In- 

 deed, it' will surpass all previous years, 

 Just as Christmas and Easter this sea- 

 son excelled all previous ones. Florists 



can make the day still better by de- 

 voting their energies to early prepara- 

 tion. Start now for telegraph business. 

 Develop it in your own town and de- 

 velop your facilities to handle business 

 from other florists as well. The two go 

 hand in hand — one hand, indeed, washes 

 the other. The methods are well known 

 to florists; they have been dwelt upon 

 often in these columns. Start early and 

 finish strong. 



MEMORIAL DAY ABROAD. 



The greater vogue of telegraph orders 

 and the desire of parents and friends in 

 this country to decorate the graves of 

 soldiers in France and England at 

 Memorial day will combine to create a 

 large number of orders for florists in 

 those countries if the trade here recog- 

 nizes the situation and informs patrons 

 of facilities to handle such business. 

 There are florists abroad able and will- 

 ing to receive orders to decorate graves 

 in the vicinity of their establishments 

 and explanation of this fact to retail- 

 ers' patrons in this country will doubt- 

 less produce many orders. 



Last year some orders of this nature 

 were sent abroad. One, which was re- 

 ported in The Review at fhe time, was 

 an order for fifty laurel wreaths for 

 graves of soldiers who perished on the 

 island of Islay, on the west coast of 

 Scotland. The florist who handled that 

 order, William Leighton, 36 Renfield 

 street, Glasgow, Scotland, has written 

 Albert Pochelon, secretary of the F. T. 

 D., regarding possible orders for this, 

 stating: 



Last yrar I was favored by the American Red 

 Cross Sorlety. I»ndon, with an order for laurel 

 wreaths for tlie graves of the American soldiers 

 and sailors who perished on the island of Islay 

 by the wrecking of the two steamers. If it were 

 known to the mt-mbers of your association that 

 I am in a position to execute orders for Memo- 

 rial day here, it might be an inducement for 

 them to receive orders which I would be pleased 

 to execute. 



An early start by florists in this coun- 

 try will enable them to send such orders 

 abroad by mail, saving their customers 

 lieavy cable charges. 



IT'S A GREAT LIFE. 



Brr 'r — brr 'r — brr 'r — brr 'r — brr 'r 

 (the usual sound of a telephone bell). 



Florist leaves customer with cash in 

 his hand and answers the telephone. 



Voice over phone: "Hello! This is 

 Mr. Soandso, representing Iron & Co. 

 f hear that Mr. Goodcustomgr's father 

 is dead and I should like to send up a 

 nice, large bunch of flowers, as Mr. 

 Goodcustomer is a particular friend of 

 mine and recently placed an order with 

 us for about $3,000." 



"Yes, sir," answers the obliging 

 florist, after recovering from the shock 

 of the call's not being the wrong num- 

 ber and seeing a nice order in view. 

 ''What price would you like to pay!" 



"Well, let's see,'"' the Iron & Co. 

 man replies. "About HO or 75 cents, or 

 I shouldn't mind spending a dollar." 



After the cash customer in the store 

 uua picked the florist up, revr—'fl liim, 

 and held him up to the phone, the party 

 on the other end can be heard asking 

 what the trouble is. 



"Say, Mr, Soandso, you charge us 

 $1.60 for a fittiilfe jind 20 cents per ioot 

 for pipe," says'^e florist weakly. 



"Quite so; that Buita me." 



"But a 50-cent bunch of flowers does 

 not suit me," replies the purveyor of 

 nature's product. 



"Oh, all right," comes from the re- 

 ceiver. "I just thought that I shcmld 

 like to have you sen4 up sometliing 

 nice, for the old gentleman was a par 

 tieular friend. Good-bye." 



George E. Beal. 



J> 



NOT ADVERTISING? 



Oh! no, not for advertising, but just 

 to express appreciation of the splendid 

 exhibits and to urge the public to see 

 them, did Penn the Florist run ads in 

 all the Boston papers at the time of the 

 orchid and spring flower show. How- 

 ever, it served the former as well as 

 the latter purpose, for the ads created 

 much comment. Here is a sample of the 

 copy used; it appeared in 7i/l>-iiich 

 double-column space in the Boston Post: 



AN APPRECIATION 



Flower Lovers who miss the Boston Orchid 

 and Spring Flower Show now being Ik'M at 

 Horticultural Hall are passing by a treat that 

 is well worth traveling miles to see. 



T cannot let the opportunity go by without 

 a word of appreciation for the most fascin^itin!! 

 showing of Nature's Colorings and all I seeli 

 is the knowledge that I have suggested a real 

 pleasure to those who may thus be led to visit 

 tills truly wonderful exhibition. 



Having just returned from New York anil 

 having seen the show in that city, I can say 

 without qualification that Boston easily takes 

 first place for beauty, quality and artistry of 

 display. 



It is a collection of Orchids. Acacin!- and 

 .Japanese Azaleas that words simply fail to 

 describe. 



See it today, tomorrew, Saturday or Siinilay. 

 and tlie memory will linger for many and many 

 a day. HENRY PENN' 



DEALERS' HELPS. 



Material such as is furnished 1^ re 

 tailors in other lines of business b; the 

 big manufacturers with national i'USi' 

 ness is supplied to florists by the •■^. -^^ 

 F. In so doing the national socictv i? 

 performing a service that enable- tb? 

 small florist to do business on as cliho 

 rate a scale, so far as advertising niittf 

 is concerned, as the biggest in the tia'h' 

 By contracting for posters, foMci'S' 

 stickers, movie slides and similar alvcr 

 tising aids in exceedingly large q"'"*'' 

 ties, the S. A. F. is able to get the'" 

 at prices no individual florist can t iif''- 

 Those who have already used aii'> "| 

 this matter realize that fact quite wcl 

 and take advantage of every sue! op^ 

 portunity given by the publicity scivic'" 

 bureau. The retailer who has not *r'^' 

 them is overlooking a big bus''*'^^ 

 getter. 



For Mothers ' day the bureau has pr*" 



^ ,,. to 



pared material that is going o 



florists already. Orders came in 



rapidK 



i^. 



