108 



The Florists^ Review 



January 6. 1922 



LOS ANGELES, CAL. 



The Market. 



Probably there was never another sea- 

 son when so much speculation and un- 

 certainty existed respecting the Christ- 

 mas business as this season. Up to al- 

 most the last hour the opinion prevailed 

 that there would be nothing doing and 

 Jupiter Pluvius surely did his best to 

 damp the spirits of the most optimistic. 

 Fortunately, on the Friday and Satur- 

 day before the holiday the rain held off 

 for a time, but on Christmas day it 

 poured again and has kept it up to the 

 date of writing, without intermission. 

 But, now that it is all over, the general 

 idea is that it might have been a good 

 deal worse. The rain spoiled practically 

 all outdoor flowers. Even such water- 

 proof subjects as heather were scarce, 

 as it was impossible in many cases to 

 get onto the land to cut the stock. Roses 

 and indoor carnations were the big 

 standbys, especially the former. There 

 was a fine supply of orchids, but in some 

 cases the high prices asked checked busi- 

 ness in these and many were left over. 



A general opinion was that prices 

 averaged rather lower than usual, but 

 that moderately priced stock sold well. 

 The best stores, with few exceptions, 

 found that the $50 baskets were not 

 wanted, but it is a pleasing fact that 

 in the smaller stores, where customers 

 pay anything up to $5 for a plant, busi- 

 ness was brisk. Owing to the conditions 

 already mentioned, plants were much 

 more in demand than cut flowers, while 

 never before were so many small plant 

 baskets sold as this year. As often 

 happens, a big run of funeral work fol- 

 lowed the holiday and this gave retail- 

 ers a chance to clean up on all left-over 

 stock. Even cyolanien plants were de- 

 nuded of their flowers for funeral pieces. 



With such weather as that which im- 

 mediately followed the holiday and 

 with hundreds of phones out of commis- 

 sion, it was quite impossible for the 

 writer to get in touch with all the re- 

 tailers. Those who are not mentioned 

 in the following part of this report 

 should uiiderstand that it is not by any 

 means intentional that thoy are left out. 

 Many take the little trouble to report 

 without any visit from the writer, thus 

 showing their belief in the old saying 

 that "many can hel]> one when it is hard 

 for one to help Tnany. " 



Various Notes. 



It is becoming mora apparent every 

 day that florists operating in the cen- 

 ter of the downtown district are losing 

 money owing to the fact that their cus- 

 tomers cannot park their automobiles 

 long enough, or near enough to the 

 stores, to give a reasonable amount of 

 time to their purchases, and for this rea- 

 son many of the high-class retailers are 

 thinking of going farther out. Frank 

 Lichtenberg took what seemed a long 

 jump from Sixth street in the downtown 

 section away out to Seventh and 

 Figueroa streets, but he says that his 

 Christmas business has shown him the 



wisdom of the move. He actually did 

 considerably more business this year 

 than last, though, as everyone in the 

 trade knows, the 1920 Christmas was 

 the banner one for many years. "With a 

 largely increased staff, everyone was 

 kept on the jump night and day. Plants 

 and plant baskets had a considerably 

 better call than cut flowers. 



Although he has no previous year to 

 compare this Christmas business with, 

 Herbert Bateman says he is delighted 

 with his first holiday experience. Big 

 prices were obtained for a number of 

 high-class plant and cut flower baskets 

 and, besides this, there was an extraor- 

 dinary call for medium-priced stock. 

 The large store and the convenient 

 workrooms and packing room helped out 

 in moving a large quantity of stock, and 

 there was preciously little of anything 

 left over. 



When the immense cut is considered, 



it is almost incredible that W. Armacost 

 & Co. sold out on roses, yet such is the 

 incontestable fact and some orders had 

 to be cut at that. Still more remark- 

 able, considering the great stock to be 

 drawn on, was the fact that cyclamens 

 in almost all sizes were so reduced that 

 plants not quite ready had to be sent 

 to the store for local trade. It is not 

 implied that these were not good, but a 

 few more days would have put them in 

 still better condition, and there will be 

 fine stock for the early spring trade. 

 Although, owing to delay on the rail- 

 roads, some shipments had to be sent 

 out an hour or two late, there were prac- 

 tically no misses up to Christmas day, 

 when the washouts south on the Santa 

 Fe made it impossible to ship to San 

 Diego and contiguous territory. 



W. Kent, of the American Florists' 

 Exchange, reports big business at the 

 market every morning and excellent re- 



CALIFORNIA 



Flowers and Greens 



OF ALL KINDS AT 



LOWEST MARKET PRICES 



PACKED RIGHT 



L. A. FLORAL COMPANY 



Th» Howum of Quality and Smrviem 

 236 EAST FOURTH ST^ LOS ANGELES, CALIF. 



Phone, Pico 518. 



Violets ! Violets ! ! 



SELECTED FOR LONG DISTANCE SHIPPING 



ALSO THE BEST 



Rosesy Heather, Carnations and Peas 



COMING TO THIS MARKET 



Our packing methods insure good results and our prices are right 



on all classes of stock. 



S. MURATA & CO. 



380-386 S. Los Angeles St., LOS ANGELES, CAL. 



01d«»t and Most Ezp«ri«ae«d Shippers in CalifornU 



WE NEVER MISS 



