42 



The Florists^ Review 



Apbil 6. 1922 



Prepare Attractive Baskets of Spring Flowers for Easter Trade. 



the growers in this country — as much 

 as can be at present produced. Then 

 the trade will meet the problem of 

 "filling the wagon, ^' a task with 

 a consolation. This can be done, and 

 our Henry Penns, George Stumpps, 

 Max Schlings and local cooperative ad- 

 vertising campaigns are already started 

 on the work of making the advertising 

 wheels of the trade strong and durable. 

 And there are many florists in the trade 

 today who are absolutely confident that 

 they will do a big business this Easter, 

 because they have invested wisely in 

 advertising. 



An interesting sidelight occurs fre- 

 quently to the thinking florist: There 

 is not a great possibility of teaching the 

 public anything until the florists them- 

 selves know the subject of the lesson. 

 In this sense, there is a form of adver- 

 tising that works within the trade, an 

 individual campaign that has as its ob- 

 jective the showing of fellow tradesmen 

 how to accomplish things. A fine exam- 

 ple of this full-hearted advertising is 

 that of G. E. M. Stumpp, of New York. 



Peter Pearson, of Chicago, described 

 our situation pointedly recently when a 

 half-hundred Chicago growers met to 

 sanction the application of one per cent 

 of their gross sales to a fund for co- 

 operative advertising. He said, "It is 

 high time for us growers to begin work- 

 ing from the neck up, as well as from 

 the neck down." Ilis point was that 

 it is foolhardy to work ceaselessly pro- 

 ducing stock, when there is no adequate 

 demand and means of disposal as a re- 

 ward. 



Getting the business is always the 

 task of the retailer. Of course, in the 



first place, it is essential that he have 

 his store filled with stock that has an 

 attraction — those things in plants and 

 flowers that will be wanted on the par- 

 ticular occasion. If he is a wise florist, 

 he has kept records of what was most 

 in demand on other flower days. He has 

 made notations in his memorandum 

 book and at Easter he will have just 

 about what is wanted for the trade. 

 This decided, he goes about figuring 

 out ways to attract more and new cus- 

 tomers. He has generally two roads to 

 travel — printers' ink or attraetive win- 

 dow displays, or both. If he is using 

 both, he is so much the more assured 

 of ready sales when the big occasion 

 arrives. It is to be remembered that a 

 window display does not consist in 

 merely putting plants and flowers hel- 

 ter-skelter into the window. Those 

 flowers and plants are put into the win- 

 dow to speak persuasively to passers-by, 

 and improper arrangement will make 

 the choir of silent voices a conflicting 

 and abhorrent shriek of jarring notes. 

 The colors must not conflict, or the au- 

 dience will not be able to understand 

 the message. For instance, pink roses 

 and red carnations are a bad combina- 

 tion. Nothing is worse than a jumbled 

 mass of potted plants and cut flowers. 

 The effect of the window is a question 

 of profits or loss of profits and a mat- 

 ter well worth considering. Adherence 

 to the plain laws of common sense and 

 harmony will avoid many mistakes. 



After a demand has been created and 

 the public is crossing the threshold of 

 the shop, the florist has still to face 

 difficulties. Everyone who has been in 

 the business any length of time knows 



that the exceesive rush will take place 

 on the days just preceding Easter. He 

 is aware that it will be necessary for 

 him to arrange in such a way that buy- 

 ers will be taken care of expeditiously. 

 The trouble with the most voracioua ap- 

 petite is the hurry-scurry haste and 

 waste caused by new employees, taken 

 on the occasion, forgetting to count the 

 packages wrapped, not wrapping them 

 properly, trampling plants, paper, flow- 

 ers and what-not under foot, forgetting 

 to obtain the proper addresses of those 

 who desire packages delivered, etc., etc. 

 All these mistakes combine to take 

 away dollars that might well be saved 

 by a use of foresight and proper pre- 

 cautions. 



The Spirit of the Day. 



When the orders have been taken to 

 be delivered, they must be delivered 

 promptly, because those who order for 

 Easter depend on prompt delivery, and 

 if the florist cares to maintain his cus- 

 tomers and reputation, it would be well 

 for him to develop a system whereby 

 the stock will be delivered without the 

 work's getting cramped as a result. A 

 proper division of routes, correct ar- 

 rangement of the shipping room and a 

 clerk on hand who knows how to "chalk 

 out" the deliveries will greatly facili- 

 tate the work and insure service. 



The spirit of Easter bears a striking 

 homology to the spirit of the florists' 

 business of today. For a number of 

 years the trade has been cooperating, 

 or a portion of the trade has been work- 

 ing to get the rest of the trade to co- 

 operate, to resurrect the business in 

 flowers. And the huge stone of disinter- 

 est and of inactivity that has covered 

 the opening for substantial profits .is 

 being gradually rolled away by the dili- 

 gent efforts of organizations and indi- 

 viduals. Such efforts have given all a 

 chance, bringing to the front the re- 

 mote florist and putting him on a com- 

 peting basis with others. It is a ques- 

 tion of all working for the one and one 

 working for all. It is a combined effort 

 to a comprehensive success, and the suc- 

 cess of this Easter and others to come 

 will be dependent on the cooperative 

 spirit. The day is past when the florist 

 could sit back cozily and just sell flow- 

 ers; today he must get out and get 

 the buyers. 



DATE or EASTER. 



It will be 1924 when Easter again 

 falls as late as it does this year. For 

 five years Easter will be no earlier than 

 April 1 nor later than April 20. Next 

 year April Fool's day and Easter will 

 be simultaneous. The dates for the next 

 five years are: 



1923 April 



^"24 April 20 



1925 April 12 



l'-'2« April 4 



l'-'27 April n 



Huntington, W. Va.— April 8, H. H. 

 Coffman, of McClure-Coffman, expects 

 to open a new establishment under the 

 name of the Arcade Floral Co., the loca- 

 tion being in the Arcade building. 



Rochester, Minn.— Emil Rieple, of 

 the Rochester Greenhouse Co., has pur- 

 chased the Quality Flower Shop, in the 

 Kahler hotel building. He intends to 

 continue the operation of the two stores 

 separately. 



