14 



The Florists' Review 



October 21, 1915. 



RETAIL STORE MANAGEMENT 



WHAT THE LEADERS IN THE TRADE ARE DOING 



DO AUTOS HURT OR HELP? 



A (•(iiios]Kiinlciit \viitos: ' ' ^\ot\vitli- 

 staiidiiijj the liiiaiuinl (loi>rcssion 

 tlirougli Avliieh tlio countiy lias been 

 jiassiiijr, the autouidhilc business seems 

 to be jjoing ahead l>y leai)s and bounds. 

 Many automobile agents this year have 

 lar exceeded their best prexious rec- 

 ords. Many pers(ms liave puroluised au- 

 tomobiles who. judging l)y appearances, 

 an> not aide to maintain them. A con- 

 siderable number, it is Ixiiown, have 

 mortgaged homes i'or whicdi they have 

 been saving through a long period of 

 years, in order to buy a mmhine. An 

 incident came to the notice of the 

 writer, where a widow recei\ ed a legacy 

 of about $0,000 in cash, besi<les the 

 home slie lived in. .She put a substan- 

 tial portion of her cash legacy into an 

 automobile, which, after sh(> had used 

 it a few days, had lost prol)al)ly half its 

 value, as far as lier ability to reali/.e 

 any money on it was concerned. 



' ' iMany wlio own macliines are find- 

 ing that it is costiiig them far more 

 than they liad planned for the upkeep. 

 Yet such is the almost tmiversal desire 

 to own an automobile that hundreds ol 

 others, who really canmd afford to buy 

 machines, are jdanning to get tliem as 

 soon as they can scrape a little more 

 money together. 



"Has this automobile craze injured 

 the llorists' business? Many have been 

 asking the question, lousiness generally 

 has been so upset during the last year 

 that it is liarder to get at the true 

 answer to this (piestion tlian it would 

 be when general business conditions are 

 more stable. Hut theic arc a growing 

 number of llorists who are cnmin'j to 



fe(d that the ra]dd inci(\ase in the 

 growth of the autonioidle business is 

 hurting them. ]n one sense tlowers are 

 a luxury, and if a family's surplus 

 money goes for an automobile and its 

 u[d\eep, it cannot go for llowers, jew- 

 (dry, etc. 



"Jt is undoubtedly true that there is 

 no one who will entirely cut out the 

 ])ur(diase of llowers because he has i)ur 

 (diaseij an automobile, but there are 

 many who doubtless will buy llowers 

 and plants in smaller quantities than 

 if they had no macdiine. If a funeral 

 ])it'ce is desired, it will be a cheaj)er 

 one than they would otherwise pur- 

 •diase. If flowers arc to be j)urchased 

 for a wedding, the quantity will be less 

 if there is an unpaid garage bill to be 

 met also. House bouquets, purchased 

 by those who ha\e to ecomimize on 

 other things because of the expense of 

 the upkeej) of their autos. will be 

 smaller than btd'ore the macdiiiu's were 

 ])urchased. There will l)e a tendency 

 on the part of some to 'shop' in order 

 to get tlow^ers Avhere they can be pur- 

 (diased the cheapest. Florists whose 

 tlowers, while not strictly fresh, still 

 look good, may Ijenefit by su(h trade, 

 but the house whose aim is to always 

 furnish the finest muality of goods will 

 suffer to some extent. 



"There is a larg'e class of jteople 

 who can afford to keep automobiles 

 without curtailing their exjtenditures 

 for flowers and other things which 

 might be cdassed as semi-luxuiies. But 

 there is tht* other (dass of those in 

 moderately ccmii fort able circumstances, 

 \\h() ha\"e but a limited amount of 

 iiionev that can be ii-ed on extras. If 



Ihey sjieud an umisually large propor- 

 tion of their incomes on automobiles, 

 the_\' must economize correspondingly in 

 other lines. The question is whether 

 the aggregate of the economies of such 

 people is sufindently large to make a 

 pt>rceptible difference in the business 

 of imlividual llorists. There are many 

 who think it is, though few, if any, 

 will state that the amount is suf- 

 lici(<ntly large* to cripple them." 



There are all sorts of ways of look- 

 ing at things. Of course if Smith 

 spends all or most of his nu)uey with 

 •lones for an automobile. Smith cannot 

 spend it with Green, the floiist, but 

 what will Jones do with it? If he made 

 money on the deal, quite likely he will 

 send his wife a corsage bouquet and 

 jihone her to come down to dinner and 

 the theater. And perhaps, business be- 

 ing good, the restaurant man and the 

 theater manager may each buy rather 

 more and better flowers than they would 

 if .(ones stayed home. 



New Branch Slore of the Jones-Russell Co., Cleveland. 



WINDOW SIMPLICITY. 



A little thinking will save n lot of 

 unproductive effort and exi)eriment in 

 dressing up a window. The distinctive 

 feature of the window illustrated on 

 this page is the simi>licity of ;irrange- 

 ment, which is the more striking be- 

 cause there was no attempt to cram the 

 window with sonu^thing of everything 

 in the store. Here is where the window 

 artist, in this instance, did his thinking 

 before trimming the window — not after- 

 ward, as happens not uncommonly. 

 Especially beautiful is the center 

 decoration of a corsage bouquet upon 

 velvet, draped over an artist's easel 

 and palette, which at once has the 

 suggestion of art and beauty, as if, 

 perhaps, devised by an artist for a sub- 

 ject. Its effect is preserved because 

 the window was not crowded full of 

 other flowers, and in this lies the secret 

 of its simplicity. To have fille<l the 

 space in the window to any greater ex- 

 tent, simply because the s[iacc was 

 tlieie, would ha\e destroyeil the effect. 

 Th;' wiiiclow is that of the Jones Rus- 

 sell Co., of ('Ie\eland, in its new branch 

 -•toic ope?iei| early in ()ctober. at Euclid 

 asenue and the Taylor Arcade, where 

 li.ilt' the stoic is occu{)ied by a con- 



1 ect ioiicr. 



A STUDY IN CONTRASTS. 



'Die |iliot<>;^ia|di reprodiiccil on jiage 

 ).', shii\\> the de<-or;it iiuis which ^lax 

 Srliliiig arr.'inged for the wedding of a 

 l.os Ang(des bride, at the W.aldorf- 

 .\stoii;i, in New York. Although the 

 c(dor sidieiiH* is not apparent in the 

 jdcture, a good idea of the care given 

 to it can be had by noticing the ex- 

 cellent crmtrasts obtained. The pleas- 

 ing (dl'ect of the bower at the b-ft, un- 

 der whi( h the ceremony was performed, 

 w.is a striking feature of the decora- 

 tion. Flo\v(Ming ai>[)les were used ia 

 the bower and also in other corners of 



