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"TAKE THE ELEVATOR 



AND SAVE ONE-HALF" 



The application of a general merchandising idea to the management of a 

 flower store conducted with unusually low overhead expense. How a Chicago 

 retail florist, operating one store in which the service is of the most costly char- 

 acter also has built up a successful separate business on the low prices basis. 



PSTAIES store methods as 

 the means of selling flow- 

 ers have been adopted by 

 a Chicago florist and, at 

 the close of a year's busi- 

 ness, the innovation is a 

 success, declare the men 

 back of the enterprise. 

 Under the name of the 

 Ohio Floral Co., a store 

 was opened on the second floor of the 

 Ohio building, at the corner of Wabash 

 avenue and Congress street, ii> Jtfay, 

 1916, an advertising campaign was 

 launched and preparations were made 

 to expend considerable money, if neces- 

 sary, to discover whether or not a 

 second-floor store in the business sec- 

 tion, selling designs, cut flowers and 

 plants at low prices, would be a money- 

 maker. 



"Take the elevator and save one- 

 half" has been the slogan of the com- 

 pany's advertising, both in daily news- 

 papers and on the windows of the store. 

 While this was not original — many 

 clothing and other classes of merchan- 

 dising concerns have made the phrase 

 familiar — it was unique in the retail 

 branch of the florists' trade. Wreaths 

 at $2 and sprays at 

 $1.50 were the leaders 

 announced in practi- 

 cally all of the adver- 

 tising. Aside from a 

 small card on the glass 

 door at the entrance to 

 the building, there was 

 no opportunity for the 

 pedestrian to know 

 that there was a flower 

 store in the building. 



A. Good Location. 



The location has an 

 unusual advantage, 

 however, in that its 

 windows, of which 

 there are many, are but 

 a few feet away from 

 the elevated platform, 

 from which thousands 

 of persons daily take 

 and leave trains to 

 and from their homes. 

 The proximity of the 

 elevated structure also 

 creates a disadvantage, 

 as it partially shuts off 

 the pedestrians' view 

 of the windows from 

 the streets. 



Upon the windows 

 are painted in large, 

 bright red and white 

 letters the name of the 



company, its business slogan, "Take 

 the elevator and save one-half," 

 "Wreaths $2, sprays $1.50," "Your 

 money's worth or your money back," 

 all of which savor of the department 

 store. The large expanse of window 

 space on both Wabash avenue and Con- 

 gress street permits a striking display. 



To attract business to a store so situ- 

 ated persistent advertising was neces- 

 sary. The first announcements of the 

 opening of the store brought business in 

 such meager volume that the first 

 week's receipts did not come near pay- 

 ing clerk hire. The second week was 

 better; at the end of the year the store 

 is paying expenses. 



Appeals to the Thrifty. 



This store and its method of attract- 

 ing customers have demonstrated that 

 flowers are, in truth, a necessity at one 

 time or another to all the people. Its 

 sales are made almost exclusively to 

 persons who, by reading the advertis- 

 ing time and again, have the store name 

 and location impressed upon their minds 

 and who remember, when flowers are 

 needed, that it is the best place to 



Applyiog the Upstairs Store Idea to the Retailing of Flowers. 



supply their needs for less money. 



Consequently, weddings, funerals, 

 celebrations of any kind that usually 

 call for flowers or designs in the homes 

 of those who wish to buy as cheaply as 

 possible mean business for the Ohio 

 Floral Co. The purchases are made 

 when flowers are considered a necessity, 

 and not usually for the gratification of 

 a love of flowers. 



Cut flowers and designs are the prin- 

 cipal stock sold at this store. Elaborate 

 bouquets and baskets make no appeal 

 to the thrifty persons who trade there. 

 Potted plants also sell well and there 

 have been several calls for bedding 

 plants and in one or two instances home 

 owners have sought shrubs and trees. 



Low prices for stock are made pos- 

 sible by the smaller rent a second floor 

 location commands in comparison with 

 the street level store in the same neigh- 

 borhood; less expert help is needed, as 

 there is little out-of-the-ordinary work 

 to be made up; buyers are less exacting 

 as to the attention they receive and 

 sales are made rapidly; supplies cost 

 less, as in most cases the purchases 

 merely are wrapped in paper and taken 

 away by the buyers, thus eliminating 

 delivery cost, and there 

 is no loss from bad ac- 

 counts, all sales being 

 for cash. 



Sells Good Stock. 



It might bo supposed 

 that a store doing such 

 a business would be an 

 outlet for poor stock 

 only. Such is not the 

 case, it is declared. 

 The best stock that 

 can be sold at the 

 jirices asked and leave 

 ii small margin over 

 the wholesale cost is 

 the policy of the store. 

 I'atrons of the estab- 

 lishment are given the 

 advantage of the de- 

 creased cost of doing 

 business, which is fig- 

 ured to be only two- 

 thirds what it is in a 

 street level store of the 

 same general charac- 

 ter. 



Making a success of 

 this venture required 

 patience, that quality 

 which is best described 

 as gameness in the face 

 of continued money 

 loss, and, last, but most 

 important, a consider- 



