The Florets' Review 



Jdlt 80, 1914. 



display windows. Perhaps au adjoin- 

 ing . room is acquired. New floor, 

 new ceiling, : new lights, new dis- 

 play refrigerator, new wall cases go 

 in. The obsolete countei^ goes out; the 

 salespeople meet the customers on an 

 equal footing; the telephone service is 

 improved; the delivery service looked 

 over; the buyer gets orders to carry 

 a better grade of merchandise; the de- 

 signers and decorators are given a trip 

 to some bigger city to see how the best 

 stores do their work. And how the 

 business booms! 



How the Public Responds. 



The wise retailer does not let him- 

 self fall so far behind that a complete 

 overhauling of his establishment be- 

 comes advisable. He makes his altera- 

 tions and improvements one at a time, 

 little by little, keeping up with or lead- 

 ing the development of his neighbor- 

 hood and avoiding the necessity of add- 

 ing at any one time a large sum to his 

 investment of capital. He "keeps" 

 store every day — and his store ' * keeps ' ' 

 him. 



The response to improved facilities, 

 where the florist already has an estab- 

 lished business, frequently is surpris- 

 ing. Not long ago a retailer moved 

 his display refrigerator ten feet far- 

 ther from the door, and put in a new 

 floor, a wall case for ribbons, etc. His 

 sales jumped twenty-five per cent. An- 

 other sold the old ice-box by the wall 

 and put in a larger, modern one across 

 the rear of the room. It greatly im- 

 proved the view from the street and 

 the increase in business was immediate. 

 Any traveling salesman will tell of a 

 dozen such recent instances, 



A Montreal Store. 



Take the store shown in the center 

 of the preceding page. It is that of a 

 florist who has been in business since 

 1851. The present location has been oc- 

 cupied ten years August 1. It is at the 

 corner of St. Catherine and Guy streets, 

 in Montreal, which has become, in the 

 decade, one of the busiest transfer cor- 

 ners in a city of 600,000 people. Keep- 

 ing pace with the changes in its sur- 

 roundings, P. McKenna & Son in this 

 room in the last year retailed approxi- 

 mately $100,000 worth of flowers. 



EuTopeaii Dtscotmt. 



The fact that the European retailers 

 allow only ten per cent in their ex- 

 change of orders, and expect to allow 

 only ten per ceift when transacting 

 business with the retailer of our coun- 

 try has been drawn to the attention of 

 the Florists' Telegraph Delivery. All 

 members are requested to arbitrarily 

 deduct twenty per cent in dealing with 

 foreign flower shops. 



In case there is any controversy over 

 the matter the same should be taken up 

 with the secretary of the F. T. D. and 

 proper provision will be made for tak- 

 ing care of the matter. A resolution re- 

 questing permission to mail all foreign 

 orders net, that is, with a discount of 

 twenty per cent subtracted, when deal- 

 ing with foreign houses not permitting 

 more than ten per cent, will be offered 

 at the Boston meeting of the Florists' 

 Telegraph Delivery. 



Irwin Bertermann, Pres. 



MANQEL MAKES COMMOTION. 



Several weeks ago The Review re- 

 ferred facetiously to the commotion 

 created by the appearance on the 

 streets of Chicago of the new White 

 delivery truck of John Mangel, the 

 Palmer House retailer. The excitement 

 now has progressed as far as the auto- 

 mobile trade papers, one of which has 

 published the accompanying illustra- 

 tion and the following note: 



"Chicago florists, who pride them- 

 selves on the use of distinctive motor 

 truck equipment, have completely sur- 

 rendered the palm of exclusiveness in 

 favor of John Mangel, who has intro- 

 duced on his motor truck the most 

 striking body design ever applied to 

 commercial service in Chicago* if not 

 elsewhere. 



"Mr. Mangel, who caters to the high- 

 class florists' trade, conceived a type 

 of body which cannot be described by 

 any of the names under which bodies 

 are known in the motor car business, 

 yet he has introduced a type that is 

 novel, artistic and, he says, well suited 

 to the florists' business. 



"In vehicle lines Mr. Mangel's truck 



resembles a huge Sedan decorated with 

 exterior frescoes of rose wreaths. lu 

 <act, it has some of the features of ^he 

 Sedan, such as inside" drive, large win 

 dow areas and low waist line. But when 

 the truck has been partly filled with 

 floral pieces, all showing plainly 

 through the large plate-glass windows, 

 it is suggestive of a colonial coupe 

 banked with flowers for a bridal couple. 

 ' * However, there is nothing senti 

 mental in its purpose, even though its 

 appea^^ce seems to belie its commer 

 cialism^ Its first appearance on Chi- 

 cago streets drew such a large crowd 

 that police were required to keep traf 

 fie open. Painted a vivid green, na- 

 ture's own hue as a background for 

 the moving floral display, the truck has 

 given Mr. Mangel a great volume of 

 advertising and has been a big stimulus 

 to business. It is fitted with an electric 

 lighting system by which the interior 

 may be flooded with light and make it 

 easily identified on the darkest street." 



Novel New White Truck of John MangeU Chicago Retailer 



BUSINESS EMBABBASSMEfTTS. 



Kalamazoo, Mich. — In the United 

 States District Court at Grand Rapids, 

 July 24, the H. A. Fisher Co. filed a 

 petition in voluntary bankruptcy, 

 scheduling assets of $9,930.65 and lia- 

 bilities of $18,635.81. Of the assets, in- 

 surance policies are scheduled at $6,000, 

 leaving other assets at $3,930.65. About 

 two-thirds the liabilities are accounts of 

 Chicago wholesale florists and florists' 

 supplies concerns. The matter was re- 

 ferred to Referee in Bankruptcy Ban- 

 yon, of St. Joseph, Mich. 



Boston, Mass. — A voluntary petition 

 in bankruptcy was filed July 22 by 

 James L. Carney. His liabilities are 

 stated to be $11,406 and his assets 

 $1,072. 



SAMABITAN IS VICTIMIZED. 



William F. Snyder, of Hopkinsville, 

 Ky., recently turned Samaritan and suf- 

 fered the not unusual experience of find- 

 ing that his confidence was misplaced. 

 He reports that he employed and be- 

 friended in various ways a man who 

 was said to have been paroled from 

 the Eddyville penitentiary. Finding 

 the man competent to handle the flo- - 

 rists' business, Mr. Snyder went on a 

 visit in New York, leaving the new 

 man in charge. Durin^the proprietor's 

 absence things are said to have been 

 doing right along. According to Mr. 

 Snyder's statement, business was good, 

 as sales were made without regard to 

 the value of the stock, but the money 

 did not get into the cash-drawer. But 

 the worst part of it was that the 

 florist's employee visited a number of 

 merchants in the town, either to make 

 purchases or to pay bills, and in each 

 case presented a check that called for 

 cash change. It is surprising how 

 many people are willing to give a 

 stranger merchandise and real money 

 in small amounts in exchange for a 

 check they know nothing about. But 

 in this case the failure of the bank 

 to pay the checks got Mr. Snyder in 

 bad, as the saying goes,i for the mer- 

 chants held him responsible, morally if 

 not legally, for their losses. Tele- 

 grams were sent calling him home to 

 straighten out the mixup. 



Mr. Snyder says the man he be- 

 friended and trusted is known by sev- 

 eral aliases. He describes him as about 

 42 years of age, five feet ten inches 

 tall, weighing about 145 pounds, black 



