18 



The Florists^ Review 



Fbbbdaby 24. 1916. 



RETAIL STORE MANAGEMENT 



WHAT THE LEADERS IN THE TRADE ARE DOING 



COHANIZING THE PUBLIC. 



George Cohan is beyond question an 

 expert dancer. Fame, such as it is, did 

 not come to him, however, through his 

 ability to execute difficult steps on the 

 stage. In fact, he remained in com- 

 parative obscurity until he invented 

 some fancy steps that were more spec- 

 tacular than they were difficult of 

 execution. The public did not know — 

 did not care to know — that the wily 

 George was putting one over. Other 

 dancers, far more expert than Cohan 

 ever has been, go through with their 

 turns without playing to the gallery, 

 get a scant round of applause from the 

 few appreciative ones, and beat their 

 retreat from the stage with good grace. 



George Cohan is a better advertiser 

 — by instinct, maybe — than he has ever 

 been a dancer. "You never can tell" 

 is a phrase that fits his case exactly in 

 relation to theater-goers. He found out 

 — more by accident, perhaps, than fore- 

 sight — what the amusement-loving pub- 

 lic wanted in the dancing line and then 

 did his best to give it to them. The 

 rest was easy — for him. In the mean- 

 while other dancers really more deserv- 

 ing than he have gone into the discard. 

 No, one never can tell what will at- 

 tract special attention from the public. 

 And, be he actor or tradesman, one 

 simply must attract attention from the 

 public these days, if he is to play his 

 own little game with any noticeable 

 degree of success. Here's a case in 

 point; and as it has all to do with a 

 florist it should be of interest to 

 florists: 



A year and a half ago, to begin at 

 the beginning, someone brought a pine- 

 apple top into the greenhouse of August 

 C. Begerow, Inc., of Newark, N. J., and 

 asked H. B. McKnight, the grower for 

 this concern, if he thought it would 

 grow. Mr. McKnight answered affirm- 

 atively and started to see what he could 

 do with it. He planted it in sand con- 

 taining a liberal amount of cow manure 

 and has kept it under favorable grow- 

 ing conditions ever since. By autumn 

 it was an exceedingly attractive plant, 

 with a fruit three-quarters grown. The 

 sequel: 



This same pineapple plant was ex- 

 hibited at the recent flower show given 

 in Newark under the auspices of the 

 Essex County Florists' Club. It was 

 the cynosure of all eyes, as, in the so- 

 ciety columns, they say of the reigning 

 belle. It made a distinct hit, you 

 might say — a common, plebeian pine- 

 apple top that under ordinary circum- 

 stances would have helped fill the 

 garbage can. This pineapple attracted 

 as much attention, seemingly, as it 

 would had it been a century plant in 

 full bloom. Later it appeared in the 

 Begerow window. 



It would be difficult to estimate in 

 inches of newspaper space just how 

 much the exhibit was worth in advertis- 

 ing to the Begerow concern. The ad- 

 vertising value must have been con- 



siderable, however. Obviously, Beg- 

 erow, Inc., is not fondling any false 

 hopes as to the commercial possibili- 

 ties of discarded pineapple tops, but 

 every florist who reads this article 

 should realize that such things have 

 advertising possibilities, particularly as 

 show-window attractions. 



CUSTOMIVBS' COMFOBTS FIBST. 



Although the foreground looks like 

 a corner of a women's rest room, the 

 illustration on page 19 is a view of 

 a businesslike establishment, the re- 

 tail store of G. H. Heelas, 318 Main 

 street, Jamestown, N. Y. Mr. Heelas 

 makes the place attractive to his cus- 

 tomers through its conveniences, find- 

 ing that an easy way to draw business. 



The store is comparatively new, hav- 



The Pineapple as an Advertisement. 



ing been opened a little more than a 

 year ago, but Mr. Heelas has had long 

 experience as a retail florist. Before 

 he opened his own store, he was for 

 fourteen years manager of the shop of 

 the Lake View Rose Gardens, at James- 

 town. 



ALBANY FLOBISTS ADVERTISE. 



A post-mortem of St. Valentine's 

 day business brings out the interesting 

 fact that this year many stores resorted 

 to printers' ink to boost the sale of 

 flowers for that day, by advertising the 

 appropriateness of roses, violets, etc., 

 as valentines. Five florists of Albany, 

 N. Y., believed their flowers and the 

 sentiment of the day harmonized so well 

 that they spent good money to tell the 

 people of it through newspapers, bill- 

 boards and posters. Instead of each 



doing his own advertising, the five 

 combined their appropriations and 

 thereby were able to put a more con- 

 centrated punch into the advertising. 

 The five who cooperated in this pub- 

 licity were the Rosery Flower Shop, 

 William C. Gloeckner, F. A, Danker, 

 J. T. Travison and H. G. Eyres. 



Fifty billboards in all sections of the 

 city were used, each four by nine feet 

 and bearing these words: "Let Flowers 

 Be Your Valentine." A large number 

 of posters, 4x21 inches each and featur- 

 ing the same slogan, were placed in the 

 store windows. Although only five of 

 the florists and a few of the growers 

 contributed to the advertising fund, 

 every florist was supplied with a poster. 

 After paying for the posters and the 

 billboards there was a surplus. This 

 was expended in the four daily papers. 

 The illustration on page 19 shows 

 the newspaper ad in actual size. "At 

 Your Service for St. Valentine's Day" 

 is the catch line and the names and ad- 

 dresses of the advertisers are displayed 

 in the center. While this advertisement 

 undoubtedly brought good returns, it 

 would have been more efficient if the 

 advertisers in their hurry had not for- 

 gotten what they were advertising. The 

 purpose of the ad was to suggest flow- 

 ers as valentines, yet the word flowers 

 does not appear in the ad, not to men- 

 tion something more specific, such as 

 roses Or violets. Five confectioners or 

 five stationers could have used the same 

 ad by simply changing the names and 

 addresses. That this was a profitable 

 advertisement, however, is the claim; 

 many of the readers evidently knew 

 the names well enough to recognize 

 what was being advertised. 



William Gloeckner says the results of 

 the publicity were plainly in evidence 

 all day Saturday and Sunday, and Mon- 

 day, Valentine's day, although it was 

 below zero outdoors, Mr. Gloeckner says 

 he did a bigger business than a year 

 ago. Being conscientious, Mr. Gloeck- 

 ner adds: "You probably recognize 

 the slogan, or keynote, of our advertis- 

 ing, 'I^t Flowers Be Your Valentine.' 

 I got it out of The Review two weeks 

 ago." Mr. Gloeckner is an all-year ad- 

 vertiser, at present having painted bill- 

 boards advertising the F. T. D. 

 "flowergram," the National Florist 

 service and himself. The cost of the 

 Valentine's day advertising was less 

 than $50. 



THE NATIONAL FLOWER SHOW. 



Hotel Walton has been chosen as 

 hotel headquarters for the National 

 Flower Show, to be held at Philadel- 

 phia, March 25 to April 2. 



Several additions have been made to 

 the schedule in the way of special 

 prizes. George C. Thomas, Jr., of Chest- 

 nut Hill, Pa., offers a prize of $50 in 

 the classes for private growers for the 

 best collection of cut roses, comprising 

 the varieties Killarney or Double Pink 

 Killarney, Lady Alice Stanley, My 



