April 21, 1921 



The Fkrists* Review 



25 



THE RETAIL STORE 



A PAGE OF HINTS AND HELPS 

 FOR THE RETAIL FLORIST 



CHANGINO STYLES. 



Times were, years ago, when "Sun- 

 day, go-to-meetin' " clothes consisted 

 of black silk for the lady of the house 

 and a stiff white "biled" shirt for the 

 man. No one thought of wearing colors 

 ' ' for best. ' ' Black and white remain 

 the color scheme, or lack of it, for the 

 male when he is all dressed up, for in 

 clothes man is less adventurous than 

 woman. But black is a rare note in 

 woman's dress today. Why? The only 

 answer is, the styles have changed. 



Times were, years ago, when the re- 

 tailer clamored for all the white carna- 

 tions, all the w^hite roses the grower 

 could produce. Recent weeks have seen 

 the white carnation the greatest glut 

 on several markets. White roses are a 

 slight fraction of the vast number of 

 pink blooms sold. Red is a color more 

 requested than furnished. Not only in 

 roses and carnations, but in other flow- 

 ers as well, the demand is for colors, 

 not for white. The ladies must have 

 bright tints in their flowers as well as 

 in the wearing apparel and millinery. 

 Styles, for our line, too, have changed. 



Today the milliners and dressmakers 

 point the way to the public, not the 

 public to the milliners and dress- 

 makers. And business is built by 

 changing styles. Slower mutation 

 takes place in our line, because the pub- 

 lic demand leads us, instead of our 

 leading the public. We should be alert 

 to keep abreast of the styles, at least, 

 and some day we may be the creators of 

 them in flowers, too. 



KEEPING THE CUSTOMERS. 



In the retail flower store, above all 

 others, service is the most important 

 factor in securing and, conspJicuously, 

 in holding customers. The flower buyer 

 d.oc? not "shop" to find where are the 

 best blooms for the least money. The 

 stock does not vary so that one shop 

 may become noted for one specialty 

 above another, as in millinery, books or 

 rugs. The buyer does not ask, ' ' Are 

 these the fresliest you have?" as in the 

 butcher 's or grocer 's shop. No, the 

 buyer returns to a certain florist be- 

 cause he or she finds there service of a 

 high standard. The buyer takes it for 

 granted, as a rule, that the same sort of 

 flowers at the same general prices are 

 to be had at another store. For that 

 reason it is essential that the florist 

 maintain the most painstaking watch 

 on the quality of service in his store. 



It has been demonstrated many times 

 ill retail storekeeping that quality and 

 price are not the most important fac- 

 tors in keeping trade. High prices and 

 even a lapse in standard of quality will 

 not drive away customers so rapidly as 

 will the indifference of salespeople in a 

 store. Discourtesy, carelessness, need- 

 less and senseless errors, indifference 

 and insolence on the part of salespeople 

 are responsible for more lost customers 

 in retail stores than all other reasons 



j)ut together. This is a hnuentable and 

 avoidable matter. It costs no more to 

 be courteous, considerate, careful and 

 accurate than it does to be otherwise. 

 And even if it did, the difference would 

 be many times made up by the cus- 

 tomers kept. 



Big business liouses realize that an 

 account on their books is worth much 

 more than many ' ' prospects, ' ' simply 

 because the initial cost of getting the 

 account there is so large. For that rea- 

 son they take particular care to see 

 that an account is kept on the books. 

 If customers drop off, letters of inquiry 

 are sent to ascertain the reason for dis- 

 continuance and every effort is made 

 to repair any error or slight that pro- 

 duced dissatisfaction. Experience and 

 cold figures have shown that the cost of 

 keeping an old customer in this way was 

 far less than the cost of getting a new 

 one. Usually the grievance is trifling 

 and reparation is a simple matter. 



While the retail florist plugs away in 

 the effort to get new customers through 

 advertising, he should constantly main- 

 tain the standard of service that will 

 keep the patrons he already has. 



art of making the most in ap))earance 

 of flowers in the home. As may be seen 

 in tlie accompanying illustration, the 

 eft'ects produced were exceedingly ar- 

 tistic. The exhibit was much com- 

 mented upon and elicited much praise 

 for the firm which made it. It was con- 

 sidered so meritorious by the show 

 management that Penn the Florist re- 

 ceived a silver medial for it. 



SHOWING THE PUBLIC HOW. 



One of the most interesting displays 

 at the Boston show, reported at length 

 in last week 's issue of The Review, was 

 that composed of vases and dishes fille<l 

 with flowers as they might be in the 

 home. This was staged by Penn the 

 Florist, of Boston, for the better in- 

 struction of visitors to the show in the 



PITTSBURGH WEDDING. 



The firm of Mrs. E. A. Williams, Inc., 

 Pittsburgh, had one of the largest and 

 most beautiful church weddings of the 

 season last week at the First Presby- 

 terian church. The entire pulpit was 

 banked with graceful cibotium ferns 

 and massed clusters of pink hydran- 

 geas, lilac, orchids and tinted bougain- 

 villeas. On each side of the pulpit 

 there were two large urns of lavender 

 lilac and pink roses. The decorations 

 extended across the entire front in 

 wave lines under the balcony. The 

 liigh (iothic columns of the arch were 

 draped with southern smilax and 

 branches of bougainvillea. Masses of 

 cibotiuni ferns banked the walls of 

 each end of the balconies, with large 

 groups of cibotium ferns overhanging 

 the corners of the organ loft. Stately 

 groups of ])alms and bamt)oos were sta- 

 tioned in the corners at the re.ir of the 

 rhurch an<l light ])ink ribbon marked 

 reserved j)ews and closed the aisles. 

 The bride carried a bouquet of white 

 lilac centered with pale ]iink roses, 

 showered with lilies of tln^ \;illev 



Silvet Medal Exhibit of Vase Arrangements for Home at Boston Show. 



