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WHERE ARE THE 



<^ SUMMER WINDOWS? 



By its articles, begun six years ago, on window decorating. The Re 

 view aroused much activity in retail stores, which resulted in striking 

 displays of many kinds. What is the reason for the fewness of window 

 displays of late — the high price of floivers or the increased cost of labor? 



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ONG ago in France there 

 lived a poet, by name 

 Francois Villon, better 

 known to us through Rob- 

 ert Louis Stevenson's 

 brief essay concerning 

 him, and Justin Huntley 

 McCarthy 's vivid novel, 

 "If I Were King," than 

 through his own poetry. 

 One of his verses, however, lives in the 

 anthologies of today. And the constant 

 refrain is, * * Where are the snows of yes- 

 teryear t" 



Quoting him, we are just now inclined 

 to ask, * ' Where are the window displays 

 of yesteryear? " It comes up with par- 

 ticular force at this season of the year, 

 when the slackening of trade offers more 

 time for the artistic arrangement of the 

 florists' windows at a time when adver- 

 tising at low cost is espe- 

 cially desirable. 



About six years ago 

 only a few florists, out- 

 standing exceptions, tised 

 their display wiil<I"0W "for 

 anything else than a 

 place to store plants and 

 perhaps show a vase or 

 two of seasonal flowers. 

 Recognizing the immense 

 possibilities to the flo- 

 rist, the number of ad- 

 vantages for staging 

 striking displays the 

 trade possesses, The Re- 

 view advocated the wider 

 use of this means of ad- 

 vertising. 



Results of Hints. 



The results were more 

 than had been expected. 

 Retailers all over the 

 country took up the idea. 

 Those who had never 

 made an attempt to 

 decorate, found the op- 

 portunities awaiting 

 their hands. Those who 

 had done much in win- 

 dow display found ideas 

 and suggestions present- 

 ed in the articles of The 

 Review valuable in add- 

 ing variety and improve- 

 ments in their decora- 

 tions. Those who acted 

 as window decorators in 

 various firms found 

 stimulus to produce elab- 

 orate effects. Ingenious 

 construction and pic- 

 torial arrangements 



gathered crowds on the sidewalk before 

 many a florist's store. And proprietors 

 saw additions to their sales directly re- 

 sponsible to the attractiveness of their 

 windows. 



Then a Slump. 



But in the last two years stores which 

 formerly had good displays in their win- 

 dows devoted less and less effort and 

 flowers to such decorations. There was 

 a reasonable, nay a strong excuse. 

 "When stock is as high in price as it 

 is," was a reply during the last season, 

 "we can't afford to waste even one 

 flower; we can sell anything that comes 

 into the store, and at a good price, too." 

 There came - also the similar answer, 

 "Everybody around the place has all he 

 or she can do. When we have to pay as 

 much as we do now for help, we can't 



, »«*' ■''vail!' 







u 



"T^TH H 



Florists' Telegraph Delivery is the Message of this Window. 



afford to spend time on anything except 

 taking care of the orders that come in. ' ' 

 When business was as good as that, 

 nobody cared much, or had time to think 

 much, about the display window, so long 

 as it had a few ferns and foliage plants 

 to fill it. And quite naturally. Every- 

 body was busy picking up the money 

 that rolled his way. 



But now, although business is keeping 

 up unusually well during the hot weath- 

 er, so well indeed that the staffs of some 

 stores, reduced by vacations, are almost 

 as busy as they were in the spring. Yet 

 there is a period of slackness now and 

 then. That may well be consumed by 

 putting some thought and work on the 

 show window. Various flowers in their 

 short season during the summer are 

 plentiful enough to be used generously 

 in the window. No matter how many 

 years pass, the mill-pond, 

 with its fish, tiny ducks, 

 or turtles or crocodiles, 

 still draws the crowd 

 of passers-by. A little 

 m ot i n — mill-wheel, 

 wind-mill or other device 

 — attracts the throngs as 

 of yore. Rustic effects, 

 devised with moss, small 

 evergreens or boxwoods, 

 and a gravel-bottomed 

 pool, have the same old 

 charms for those who 

 came from the farm and 

 for those who, on sultry 

 days, wish they were 

 there. 



Easy for Us. 



The readily available 

 drawing cards are easily 

 worked out for florists, 

 and now is the time to 

 undertake them. There 's 

 but a little time re- 

 quired, and results have 

 been found of value in 

 dollars and cents by 

 many florists in former 

 years. If retailers will 

 make the effort through 

 advertising of various 

 kinds to maintain the 

 level of sales of the last 

 season, there is no rea- 

 son why they should not 

 have another like it next 

 year. But if the florist, 

 in the crowd of heavy 

 business loses sight of 

 the need of advertising 

 for the future, he may, 

 when Tie sees his sales 



> nil 



