OCTOBBS 28', 1918. 



The Florists' Review 



9 



THE RETAIL FLORIST ir 

 st[ AND THE POMPON MUMS 



1'^ "■ "■■'■' '■'■ ■■ 



I I I M I I 



^^1 III II II I II -I I I II in II III 



O 7 u find 



the easiest 



selling to 



be al n g 



the lines of 



the easiest 



buying! Or hadn't you thought 

 about itt 



Every observant person has 

 noted that certain retail florists 

 have been able to double, per- 

 haps triple or quadruple, their volume 

 of business within a comparatively 

 short time, say two or three or four 

 years, while other retailers in the same 

 cities, perhaps longer established, have 

 been making slow if any progress. 



But how many florists have stopped 

 to analyze the methods by which sales 

 have been built up so rapidly! , , 



Think it over and it will be apparent- 

 that the selling has been only a pa«^. 

 of the method, that its foundation lies 

 in the buying. 



Two Methods of Betalllng. 



The majority of florists lay in a 

 general stock and wait for trade. Not 

 80 the retailer who is at present mak- 

 ing the biggest stir in his community. 

 This man buys heavily of some one 

 item, the flower that at the moment is 

 most plentiful and cheapest if taken in 

 large quantities. Then, he advertises. 

 Today he is selling Beauties, tomorrow 

 roses, the next day cattleyas, and so 

 on ad infinitum. He puts his whole sell- 

 ing energy into pushing the day's spe- 

 cialty. 



There is nothing secret or exclusive 

 about such methods — every observant 

 person can see the operation of ^ the 

 system, and anyone who has the ability 

 to handle a good size underta^ng can 

 go and do likewise. 

 The only advantage 

 this new class of re- 

 tailers had in the be- 

 ginning was an en- 

 dowment of extraor- 

 dinary initiative, the 



ability to see a 



chance, the courage 



to grasp it and the 



determination to car- 

 ry it through. They 



seldom are able to 



"lake an offer that 



f»«' smWlest competi- 

 tor cannot duplicate 



within a few days. 



About all it amounts 



to is that the first 



n»an has been able to 



see the turn in the 



market just a little 



ahead of his compet- 

 itors, -which results 



»n his relaxing his 



efforts to push the 



!>ne that is shorten- 



'?P up and transfer- 



"np; his energies to 



the one that is be- 

 coming easier. A 



'ew days later pretty 



III II III II ^11 111 — 1 



much everybody has done more or less 

 the same thing, according to the scope 

 of his business. There is a well 

 marked tendency among retailers to 

 buy the flower that is most plentiful, 

 and push it, somewhat to the neglect 

 of all the other flowers. 



Get Beady for the Pompons. 



The purpose here is not to argue 

 whether or not this trend toward fea- 

 turing the abundant article is advan- 

 tageous to the trade at large, but to 

 call attention that pompon and single 

 mums soon will be more abundant and 

 probably cheaper than they ever have 

 been before. 



Two years ago the little mums came 

 into their own. Before that they had 

 been considerably seen, to be sure, but 

 it was in the autumn of 1911 that the 

 supply in the markets became great 

 enough to assume a place of large im- 

 portance. The novelty had not worn 

 off, the stock was fine and excellent 

 returns were obtained by the growers. 

 The returns were so good, in fact, that 

 the production was greatly increased 

 the following year, with the result 

 that the wholesalers were hard put to 

 it to make returns that would compare 

 in any way favorably with the records 



The Yotfiig Man Who Fills the Baskets is Kept Busy in Pompon SetMoa. 



of the previous seasons. 

 This year the growers 

 have gone into pompons 

 still more heavily. One 

 specialist in young 

 stock is reported to have 

 sold 250,000 plants in 2i^-inch 

 pots last June and he had the 

 field by no means to himself; 

 there were scores of growers of- 

 fering them in the classified col- 

 umns of The Beview. The results will 

 begin to be apparent in the wholesale 

 markets within a fortnight. 



The retailers surely will have a 

 chance to make good use of pompons 

 this season. 



Ideal for Small Baskets. 



The pompons, and this includes the 

 singles, never would have become as 

 popular' as they are if it were not that 

 they are about as adaptable as any 

 flower the retailers ever have had to 

 work with. They can be used for al- 

 most any purpose for which flowers 

 ordinarily are employed. Some of the 

 double white varieties compete with 

 the carnation as filling for funeral de- 

 signs, you see other sorts in corsages, 

 while long, graceful sprays of them 

 are ideal for decorative purposes. But 

 it is for table centerpieces and for 

 basket work that they are so well 

 adapted that they refuse to take sec- 

 ond place to any flower available in 

 their season. The supply dealers have 

 not failed to appreciate this and there 

 is this season an infinite variety of 

 small baskets designed for use with 

 the small mums. Perhaps, however, 

 none of the newer shapes excels the 

 old, standard high handled basket in 

 sbiall sizes for this purpose. 



The retailer who 

 plans to make the 

 pompon and single 

 mums an important 

 item of his stock 

 during the next six 

 weeks should see to 

 it that he not only 

 has a good supply of 

 baskets, but an ade- 

 quate stock of rib- 

 bons of the right 

 character, widths 

 and colors. The bas- 

 kets of pompons and 

 singles are incom- 

 plete without the use 

 of ribbon. You can- 

 not use wide, heavy 

 satin taffeta ribbon 

 for these baskets ; 

 the right article is 

 the satin edged gauze 

 or a light ribbon that 

 will be in harmony 

 wi#j the light, grace- 

 ful character of 

 flowers and recep- 

 tacle. A wide range 

 of colors is useful. 

 Of course the width 

 of the' ribbon wiU d«> 



