Septembek 1, 1921 



The Florists^ Review 



19 



THE RETAIL STORE 



A PAGE OF HINTS AND HELPS 

 FOR THE RETAIL FLORIST 



IDEAS FOR WINDOW DISPLAYS. 



Good display plans do something 

 more than make immediate sales. They 

 are a tonic to jaded buyers. Flowers 

 should be the medium of the florist's 

 window display; they are in themselves 

 an attraction. But an occasional nov- 

 elty brings in buyers. Here are some: 



Do you pull down the window shade 

 when you are changing the window? 

 If you do, attach to the shade a large 

 card containing a big question mark. 

 Then place between the shade and the 

 glass a smaller card reading: 



WHEN THE QUESTION ARISES 



You'll find right here the gift that will 



make any woman happy. 



Letter a sign on an old music roll for 



player-piano, reading: 



MUSIC TO HER BARS. 



' 'I remembered 

 that you liked violets." 



Place a small bunch of flowers — one 

 of the season's specials — in the center 

 of the floor of your window, surrounded 

 on three sides by mirrors. Use this 

 sign: 



DESERVES REFLECTION. 



When did you last take her 



home any flowers? 



Only .... 



Place a large dictionary on the floor 

 of the window, well to the front. Have 

 it opened at the word "happiness." 

 The word should be ringed with a heavy 

 pencil. Behind the book have a sign: 



FIND OUT WHAT HAPPINESS REALX.Y 



MEANS. 

 "Say It with Flowers." 



Get an enthusiastic fisherman friend 



to lend you a nicely mounted specimen 



of a fish. Place it in the window with 



this sign: 



A FISH OUT OF WATER. 

 How will you feel when you And he's 

 sending her flowers — and you're not? 



Get a desk telephone instrument with 

 a short length of cord dangling from it. 

 Put it in the window. The accompany- 

 ing card should read: 



IT'S NO USB TAUKING. 

 "Say It with Flowers." 



LOUISVILLE'S NEW STOBE. 



The champions of Kentucky can now 

 add another cause for fame to the blue 

 grass, the moonshine, the horse races 

 and the traditional Kentucky colonel. 

 This new cause for boasting comes in 

 the form of a building recently com- 

 pleted and now occupied by Marret & 

 Miller, at Louisville. As shown in the 

 reproduction on this page, the new store 

 is up in the front rank of large and 

 attractive florists' establishments. 



It is a building two stories high, forty 

 feet wide and sixty feet deep. This 

 allows plenty of room on the main floor 

 for showing the stock and handling the 

 customers, and plenty of room on the 

 second floor to store the stock and have 

 space for a workroom. The building 

 is simple in its architecture, yet it is 

 large enough and decorative enough to 

 make it attractive and a striking sight. 

 The spacious windows on either side of 

 the door make an excellent display space 



for blooms and advertising material and 

 also afford an unobstructed view of the 

 well-arranged interior. 



This new store is the outgrowth of an 

 old business. The firm was organized 

 in 1878 under the name of Eompen & 

 Marret, with J, Edward Marret as the 

 junior partner. This partnership lasted 

 several years and then the business 

 was taken over by Mr. Marret and 

 operated under his name until Jan- 

 uary 1, 1918, forty years after it 

 was started, when his son-in-law, J. S. 

 Miller, purchased it. From that time 

 until his death, which occurred June 26 

 of this year, Mr. Marret was inactive 

 in the business, but it continued to run 

 under the partnership name and Mr. 

 Miller says he will not change the firm 

 name, as the name of Mr. Marret has 

 been identified with the business for so 

 many years. 



Mr. Miller also states that since build- 

 ing the new structure the business of 

 the store has been increased over 

 twenty-five per cent, on account of the 

 increased facilities for handling it. 



SHOWING THE PUBLIC. 



The benefits to be derived from the 

 remarkable speediness of the florists' 

 telegraph delivery service are well 

 enough known to those who have made 

 use of it, but there are many people who 

 must be shown before they will even 

 start to think about the advantages. 

 The Colonial Flower Shop, of Pittston, 

 Pa., accomplished this kind of educa- 

 tion with a unique window display, in- 

 tended to point out the speed and 

 eflScacy of telegraph delivery. The 

 service denoted in the display is the 

 delivery of flowers purchased on one 

 side of the ocean and delivered a short 

 time later on the opposite side. The 

 ocean is represented by a small pond of 



water, with camps and buildings de- 

 noting this side of the Atlantic, while 

 on the other side, as represented, are 

 cottages, with wires strung along de- 

 noting the rapid progress of the tele- 

 graphed message. When lighted at 

 night, the display was particularly at- 

 tractive. 



MAKE SEPTEMBER SELL FERNS. 



* ' Sale on ferns all September. We 

 have made an unusually large and fa- 

 vorable purchase of choice ferns. We 

 will offer these to our patrons at reason- 

 able prices during the whole month of 

 September — select stock, $2.25 each; ex- 

 tra large specimens, $4, $5 and $6 

 each." The foregoing printed on a 

 neat folder, along with a final admoni- 

 tion to "buy ferns in September," 

 forms the working basis of an idea that 

 has made September a profitable 

 "fern" month for McClure-Coffman, of 

 Huntington, W. Va. And as this com- 

 pany is an earnest exponent of cooper- 

 ation, the idea is sent along in the 

 thought that others may profit from it. 

 This is how T. Harold Coffman, of the 

 company, tells about it: 



"The month of September in the 

 flower business is not the best that it 

 could be, so in order to make it a favor- 

 able month, we have a large collection 

 of ferns to sell and advertise them as a 

 good buy. At the end of the month 

 last year we had sold several hundred 

 that otherwise would not have been pur- 

 chased. This alone made September a 

 good month for sales, as well as for 

 profit. 



"In our advertising we send with 

 every statement a folder like the one 

 described above and use the same in the 

 newspapers once a week for the whole 

 month. You will notice that we make a 

 drive on the lower-priced ones, but, 



New Store of an Old Firm at Louisvillr, Ky. 



