68 



The Florists' Review 



Fdbruart 19, 1920 



RETAIL STORE MANAGEMENT 



WHAT THE LEADERS IN THE TRADE ARE DOING 



ST. VALENTINE'S DAY ADS. 



While retailers did not generally do 

 so much advertising for St. Valentine's 

 day this year as previously, because the 

 natural demand took all available flow- 

 ers without more call being created, yet 

 some efforts were made of a strikingly 

 successful nature. 



As novel a form of newspaper adver- 

 tisement as could be devised was that 

 of Mrs. Lord's Flower Room, at Topcka, 

 Kan. An ad for a previous St. Valen- 

 tine 's day used by Mrs. Lord appeared 

 on the front page of The Review Febru- 

 ary 5, illustrating the article, "Develop 

 Day of Heart Heralds." Using eight 

 inches across four columns, Mrs. Lord 

 reproduced the i)age from The Review 

 in the Topeka Daily Capital February 

 13, with the note that she was better 

 prepared for the day's business than 

 before. The unusual appearance of the 

 advertisement made it especially strik- 

 ing to the eye and gained notice from 

 the greater share of tiie readers. 



Window displays were used to good 

 advantage. In Baltimore, Samuel Feast 

 & Sons showed a valentine poster 

 painted in oils, an original idea that 



bearing flowers. The large size of one 

 or two made the window quite conspicu- 

 ous and the novel valentines evidently 

 proved popular, for the windows were 

 bare when night came. 



GROWN INTO NEW QUARTERS. 



Steady, solid growth has characterized 

 the business of George A. Souster, Elgin, 

 111., through all its forty years of de- 

 velopment. Recently Mr. Souster moved 

 into a new store of larger proportions 

 than any he had occupied before. The 

 accompanying illustration shows the at- 

 tractive interior, with the show case and 

 refrigerator furnished by the A. L, Ran- 

 dall Co., Chicago. While Mr. Souster 

 continues to give the store the benefit 

 of his experience, the active workers at 

 present are his two daughters. Miss 

 Souster and Mrs. Hamilton, and his son- 

 in-law, Mr. Hamilton. 



CURING CURIOUS CUSTOMERS. 



"In my early days in the business," 

 relates Max Schling, "when I was one 

 of the smallest florists in New York, 

 I had as a customer a nice and refined 

 lady. When she bought something for 



Interior View of the New Store of George Souster, at EtgJn, III. 



won attention from passers-by. The 

 painting showed a cupid with a mes- 

 senger boy's cap, carrying a corsage. 

 In the background were dimly outlined 

 the American continents. Large letters 

 emphasized the message, "Valentines 

 to and from All Parts of the Continent 

 via F. T. D." 



The Fleischman Floral Co., Chicago, 

 had a number of various sizes and colors 

 of hearts in the two windows, each 



her friends she always wanted three 

 or four half-open roses with one full- 

 open one among them. She wanted 

 them so, not because of beauty. Her sen- 

 timent was really not that such roses 

 were better. She didn't want to spend 

 much money and three or four open 

 roses showed much more than a dozen 

 good tight roses and she was saving 

 money. As soon as I got on to her 

 scheme, I put in the box a little card on 



which was written, 'Fully developed 

 roses sent by special order of Mrs. W.' 

 Mrs. W. selected the flowers herself. 

 Then I had no more complaints from 

 her friends that the roses did not keep, 

 but shortly afterwards I ceased to get 

 any more orders for open roses or any 

 other orders at all from that lady. 



"Such ladies, when flowers are sent 

 to them, expect something quite won- 

 derful. One came into the store one 

 day whose friend out west had sent her 

 a plant. The plant was an inexpensive 

 one. Unfortunately, she thought that 

 this friend had sent an order for a 

 much more expensive plant and that 

 we had made an excessive profit by 

 sending her a plant worth far less than 

 the amount paid for it. After she saw 

 that she could not get any information 

 as to how much her friend paid, she 

 didn't want any plant and didn't want 

 to leave her address, because the sales- 

 man told her, 'We will write to your 

 friend stating you have called on us 

 regarding the price and size of the 

 plant.' Incidentally I recognized my old 

 friend with the open roses." 



INTRODUCING MRS. MONTAINE. 



In the Daytonews, the house organ of 

 the Dayton Co., Minneapolis, appeared 

 the following introduction of Mrs. W. L. 

 Montaine, head of the flower depart- 

 ment, beneath an attractive portrait of 

 that person: 



"Perhaps more people will associate 

 the name of Miss Barden with the 

 above picture, as she discarded that 

 name in favor of the other just since 

 coming to the store. 



"Mrs. Montaine has graced our floral 

 department for the last two years with 

 an efficiency and artistry of touch that 

 proclaim a thorough knowledge of the 

 florists' business. She was designer for 

 a number of years with the L. L. May 

 Co. before coming to Daytonia. 



"Mrs. Montaine was born near Mil- 

 waukee, Wis., of American parentage, 

 and came to the Twin Cities some ten 

 years ago. She is a graduate of the 

 Johnson School of Music and is a mem- 

 ber of the St. Paul Oratorio Club and 

 several dramatic clubs. 



"Several years ago, when show 

 horses were in style, Mrs. Montaine 

 owned Cub, state champion for three 

 years in succession, who had something 

 like thirty ribbons to his credit. But 

 the inevitable happened and Cub was 

 replaced by a Studebaker car, which 

 possesses all the speed Mrs. Montaine 

 desires." 



NATIONAI. PUBLICITY CAMPAIGN. 



[Conttnned from pag« 66. 1 



Do you, for one moment, think that a 

 great deal of business does not result 

 from this continuous flashing of a mes- 

 sage whose appeal is not to any par- 

 ticular class, but to every man and 

 woman, young or old, in a country of 

 over a hundred millions in population? 



Do you realize that this publicity 



