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Mat 8, 1019. 



The Florists^ Review 



19 



A House of Dorothy Perkins Roses at Easter \7as as Good as a Gold Mine. 



team to represent Chicago at the S. A. F. 

 convention to be held at Detroit in Au- 

 gust. 



It was decided that the club will hold 

 a basket picnic the first Sunday in 

 August, Another important entertain- 

 ment to take place in August is the 

 ladies' night. It will be at the Randolph 

 hotel and there will be a good "jazz" 

 orchestra to furnish the dance music, 

 and many surprise features will be on 

 the program. 



THE BUFFALO BANQUET. 



Penn Preaches Publicity. 



Of the various social successes at- 

 tained by the Buffalo Florists' Club, the 

 banquet of April 29, held at the Statler 

 hotel, was paramount. There was an at- 

 tendance of 120. Mark Palmer, son of 

 W. J. Palmer, was master of ceremonies. 



A vase of improved Russell, staged in 

 the center of the room, a product of John 

 H. Dunlop, of Toronto, Canada, created 

 much comment because of the beauty 

 and sturdiness of the flowers. In speak- 

 ing of this rose Mr. Dunlop stated that 

 the trade may expect dissemination a 

 year hence. 



The principal speaker of the evening 

 was Henry Penn, of Boston. Mr. Penn 

 reviewed his own experiences and ob- 

 servations of the trade 's needs and its 

 progress. He laid particular stress on 

 the need of cooperative advertising and 

 teaching the public the value and uses 

 of flowers. "Not long ago," he said, 

 "a man came into my store and said: 

 'Penn, what are you goiYig to soak me 

 for a bunch of flowers?' Right there 



and then I thouglit that this idea must 

 be overcome by all means. 'What are 

 you going to soak me for a bunch of 

 flowers! ' It is hard to imagine people 

 thinking that they are being 'soaked' 

 when they enter our shops. To overcome 

 this we .must teach them the value of 

 flowers through proper publicity. We 

 must teach them that they have a value 

 and not that we are 'soaking' them." 



Progress Has Been Made. 



Mr. Penn pointed out the progress that 

 the trade has made during the last few 

 years and mentioned the necessity of 

 paying better wages, in order that the 

 trade may encourage the attachment of 

 efficient help. 



"A glutted market," he said, "is an- 

 other thing we must endeavor to over- 

 come. The only way to do this is to 

 advertise. Waiting for the customer has 

 proved entirely too slow. We must 

 create buyers to take care of the sup- 

 ply. Valentine 's day, but a few years 

 ago, was merely a day to send a comic 

 postal or, at best, a neat postal card. 

 Now it is a day on which we handle a 

 great supply of violets and other flowers. 

 Formerly, on Decoration day, people 

 brought only a few flowers to the graves 

 of their loved ones. Now it is a day on 

 which we handle thousands of wreaths 

 and suitable bouquets and this has been 

 done through publicity." , 



Mr. Penn expressed his wish that other 

 cities would copy after Buffalo. Start 

 friendly little gatherings of retailers 

 and talk over what fair prices ought to 

 be and, in time, surely enough would 

 realize this necessity to hold regular 

 meetings. "The sooner one realizes the 



cost of doing business," he declared, 

 "the sooner he will see the need of hav- 

 ing established prices." After stating 

 the cost of doing business in other lines, 

 Mr. Penn said that in his own establish- 

 ment the cost is thirty-two per cent. 

 This percentage is higher than in other 

 lines, but it can be lowered by creating 

 more sales. "Think of the number of 

 birthdays in this country," he insisted. 

 "What will bring more cheer and sun- 

 shine into the home than flowers! Ad- 

 vertise the reason why flowers should be 

 bought. Advertise the happiness they 

 bring and the results of flowers in the 

 home. Let the peopM'ninderstand flow- 

 ers and they will 'Say It with Flow- 

 ers.' " 



How to Get the Money. 



In closing, Mr. Penn expressed his 

 wish that time may bring about a sys- 

 tem by which the task of collecting the 

 publicity fund will be simplified to a 

 charge of two per cent at the wholesale 

 houses. In this way everyone will con- 

 tribute his share. 



Other visitors were Fred Brown, of 

 Cleveland; John Higgins, John Dunlop 

 and George M. Geraghty, of Toronto, 

 and Congressman McGregor. 



Mr. Brown reviewed the progress of 

 the Cleveland retail florists and said that 

 "though we have had some hot argu- 

 ments, we have always finished friendly 

 and all of us had more business at Easter 

 than we could attend to." F. P. A. 



DOROTHY PERKINS AT EASTEB. 



The trade will be interested in notinjjc 



