■•:--':,;;i-n ,; •."::5T-.;"«^"T'-.7=^-'''W>-' .7^ J^V^im- 



44 



»■:»*«'?••.■' 



The Florists' Rcviewr 



" Adoost 19, 1915. 



ing plant department. Miss C. Burk- 

 hardt, of the city office, has returned 

 from a vacation at the Dells, Wis. 

 R. J. Parker has returned from a trip 

 through lower Wisconsin. 



John Evert, who is known to his col- 

 leagues on La Salle street as the Mum 

 King, is second vice-president and di- 

 rector of the United States Automatic 

 Safety Appliance Co., in which his 

 brother also is a stockholder. The 

 Evert brothers like nothing better than 

 to take their florist friends to the com- 

 pany's office aft 108 South La Salle 

 street and shoW' them the working of 

 the model of its automatic train stop, 

 "pronounced by the railroad officials," 

 to quote the company 's literature, * * the 

 greatest invention in the history of 

 railroading. ' ' 



Erne & Kling«l say July was much 

 ahead of last year with them, but that 

 August is not making so good a show- 

 ing; prices, especially on roses and 

 gladioli, are too low to make good busi- 

 ness however much stock is handled. 



J. W. Breakey, 3907 Cottage Grove 

 avenue, has completed the erection of a 

 fashionable twelve-apartment building 

 at Sixty-first street aird*Langley ave- 

 nue. Mr. Breakey will make his home 

 in one of the apartments. 



The moving of the range of the Au- 

 gust Erickson Co., from 3437 Foster 

 avenue to 5825 Rogers avenue, is pro- 

 gressing rapidly. Three houses are 

 ready for glazing and it is expected to 

 get the others up soon. Mr, and Mrs. 

 Erickson are at present visiting a 

 daughter at Warner, Alberta. 



James Rolan, who now has a flower 

 and confectionery store at Twelfth and 

 Halsted streets, has opened a new store 

 of the same character at Twelfth street 

 and Kedzie avenue. 



W. H. Kidwell took an interesting 

 means, August 14, to do his part to re- 

 duce the gladiolus surplus. He cleaned 

 up a table in a wholesale house, work- 

 ing up enough of his purchase to get 

 his money back and a profit. Then, in 

 the evening as people were passing to 

 the neighboring picture shows, he put 

 a boy on the sidewalk to hand out a 

 flower to each person. Soon the dis- 

 tribution was going on inside the store 

 and 4,000 spikes were given away. Mr. 

 Kidwell considers it an excellent way 

 to advertise. 



W. J. La Grotta, proprietor of the 

 Andrew McAdams store, Fifty-third 

 street and Kimbark avenue, is building 

 an addition to his greenhouses. It is 

 of Foley construction. Mr. La G'-otta 

 reports good business. 



After a most pleasant trip to Pasa- 

 dena and the expositions, C. L. Wash- 

 burn and Mrs. Washburn returned Au- 

 gust 15. Mr. Washburn lost no time 

 in getting to work, as he was in the 

 Bassett & Washburn greenhouses at 

 Greggs two hours after his arrival. 

 O. P. Bassett and wife will arrive in 

 the city August 20. They have made 

 the trip overland in an automobile. 



Philip C. Schupp, of J. A. Budlong's, 

 has his hands full these days looking 

 after his own work and that of the 

 bookkeeper, Miss Mabel Schultz, who 

 has gone on a two weeks' vacation. 



P. W. Peterson, superintendent of the 

 Thompson Carnation Co., Joliet, 111., 

 celebrated his thirty-seventh birthday 

 anniversary August 16. 



Eric Johnson, in charge of the cut 

 flower department of the A. L. Randall 

 Co., never will believe that Friday, Au- 

 gust 13, was an unlucky day, for it 



Be Sure You Get Your Money's Worth 



'Mawruss, there is one ting you 

 must all the time remember, if you 

 want to make for yourself a success in 

 pizness," said a diamond bedecked Is- 

 raelite in a sixty dollar tailor made, 

 to his aged youthful offspring. 



"Yes, Mawruss, mine poy," he con- 

 tinued with a knowing smile, "to be, 

 like your f adder, a good pizness-man 

 (rising inflection) you must all the 

 time be sure to get your money's 

 worth, if you spend anything." 



And the Jew, through wisdom in- 

 herited from Solomon, no doubt, hit 

 the nail of good "merchant-ship" 

 on the head. 



"Be sure you get your money's 

 worth," that is one question you al- 

 ways put to yourself when you buy 

 a suit of clothes, or a new hat. Do 

 you ask yourself in the same way 

 when you are buying stock for your 

 store, "Am I getting full value for 

 my money?" 



It does not usually occur to the 

 ■ Florist, that there must be good value 

 to his stock. He is apt to think in 

 dividends, not values. If he thinks 

 the public will stand for poor quality 

 — he buys poor quality. If he is of- 

 fered a batch of stock that is off 

 grade, and he thinks he can sell it at 

 a profit, he does not bother with the 

 minor detail that he is not giving the 

 ultimate buyer his money's worth. 



When I say the average Florist 

 does not care whether his customer 

 gets value or not, I am not hitting 

 at you who are building up good 

 profitable business, I mean the man 

 who tears down his sign and 

 "cusses" his luck for not being able 

 to get a good location for his shop 

 or stand. The man that can not un- 

 derstand his neighbor's success and 

 his own failure, can as a rule, put it 

 up to this one thing — he does not 

 give the consumer his money's worth. 

 Possibly he gives him fresh flowers, 

 but the variety is off (he bought them 

 because they were cheap). On the 

 other hand, his stock might be of 

 good variety but the stems too short 

 (he would not have bought them but — 

 cheap). 



Never get anything, at any price, 

 that you would not buy if you were 

 asked to pay the full price. If you 

 do, you will lose by the deal. Not in 

 cash on that particular sale, perhaps; 

 a good salesman can sell a three- 

 legged blind mule to the man that 

 knows nothing about what he is try- 

 ing to buy. But is the man that has 

 been stung apt to come back and try 

 again f 



MIND YOTJR P'S AND Q'S. 



No, I am not merely suggesting 

 that you mind your own business, 

 though that is good advice too. What 

 I mean is this: "Prices" and "qual- 

 ity" must both be kept in mind, not 

 "prices" alone. First be sure the 

 quality is right, then talk price. I 

 don't care how cheap a lot of Beau- 

 ties may be, if their petals are dis- 

 colored I don't want them at any 

 price. Flowers are bought for their 

 beauty and attractiveness alone; if 

 in that they fail they are worthless. 

 You can not make a bad blossom a 

 good buy, no matter what you cut 

 the price to. 



Then again, it is one thing to sell 

 flowers that are apparently good 



stock, and seem to be in fine condi- 

 tion, and a good bit different to han- 

 dle real quality cuts. KENNICOTT 

 BROS. COMPANY, you have seen, 

 terms itself "The House of Quality 

 Plus." The reason is this: The aim 

 of the House of Kennicott is to mind 

 their P's and Q's, Their "prices" 

 and "equalities" both are right. What 

 more is there to be considered on the 

 question of good value of stock? 



Mind, the House of Kenniijott does 

 not aim to be the cheapest, jip^r claim 

 to be the biggest, nor the best. But 

 the fact that it has been doing busi- 

 ness for over thirty years means some- 

 thing to the man who thinks. 



KENNICOTT 'S QUALITY CUTS, 

 though not attempting to be cheap, 

 have won a name for themselves. 

 True enough, but there is another 

 thing that 1*116 House of Quality Plus 

 stands for. Stop and consider the 

 "Plus." That is not for euphony, 

 merely. 



"Plus" in the Kennicott slogan 

 means (1) "service": desire to 

 please, ability to satisfy; (2) 

 "honor": desire to treat customers 

 square, give full count, and never 

 stuff orders and charge for more than 

 the order called for; (3) "courtesy": 

 willingness to rectify errors in filling 

 orders, shipping stock, and the hun- 

 dred and one other mistakes that even 

 the most efficient and most willing 

 are bound to make occasionally. 



The Kennicott policy of fairness has 

 won for the House a place in the hearts 

 of many buyers both In and out of Chl-_ 

 cage. Due to the never tiring efforts of" 

 the employees, the manager, and Mr. H. 

 B. Kennicott, the president of the com- 

 pany (who takes a personal interest in 

 every account on the books) Kennicott 

 Bros. Company is bound to grow to be, 

 if not the largest, the best bouse on the 

 Chicago market. 



As the House grows in quantity of busi- 

 ness transacted the management continues 

 to give each order the same personal care 

 and attention. At this time the concern 

 bandies more stock than ever before ; 

 hence with the same personal service, the 

 House is even better able to give each 

 buyer Just what he wants. 



Since the Installation of the new man- 

 agement The House of Kennicott has not 

 only increased the amount of cut flowers 

 handled (at the same time holding its 

 place as headquarters for Decorative 

 Greens) but it is also handling a larger 

 amount of supplies each month than It 

 did formerly In six. From now on 

 KENNICOTT BROS. COMPANY will have 

 a full line Chiffons, RibbonSjCtc, as well 

 as their old stand-by. Wire Work. 



You may not be aware of the fact that 

 Kennlcott's Wire Designs have not only 

 been on the market longer than any other 

 make of Wire Work that Chicago boasts, 

 but that the quality of the wire and the 

 standard of workmanship is not equaled 

 In any other shop, at any price — and 

 Kennlcott's Designs cost no more than 

 Inferior grades. 



Do not take this statement as Gospel, 

 prove it for yourself. Surely it bears In- 

 vestigation. • 



In closing let me tersely sum up the 

 question I have discussed, and try to im- 

 press upon you the importance of these 

 few facts : 



1 — It does not pay to do business unless you 

 make a fair profit. 



2 — You can not build a permanent business 

 without satisfied customers. 



3 — You can not satisfy customers without 

 giving them good value. 



4 — You can not give good value to customers, 

 unless you insist on getting good value when 

 you buy your own stock. 



5 — <3ood value does not mean stock at a low 

 price, but high grade stock at the right price. 



6 — KENNICOTT BROS. Company, The House 

 of Quality Plus, for over thirty years has stood 

 for a square deal. 



7— KENNICOTT'S CUTS ARE QUALITY CUTS. 



•Think these seven statements over. 

 Now, what is the logical thing to dof 



EFFICIENCY ADVERTISING COUNSEL-K. B. Co. 



