T.,-,,Yj».-.-r.-"i.,,' 



November 8, 1906. 



The Weekly Florists^ Review* 



16JS 



H. N. BRUNS. 



In the few years since the world's 

 fair H. N, Bruns has achieved a position 

 as a leader in the trade in Chicago, for 

 it is only fourteen years since the "val- 

 ley millionaire," then 23 years of age, 

 first landed on American soil. He was 

 born near Hamburg, Germany, in 1869 • 

 and began his career in horticulture with 

 his fourteenth year. Before he had at- 

 tained his majority he had acquired a 

 varied experience in the private places 

 and commercial establishments in Ham- 

 burg, Dresden and Berlin. Then he went 

 to Paris and in a short time learned 

 French and much of French methods. 



Coming to America in 1892 he was, 

 with many others, attracted to Chicago 

 by the advertising the city received by 

 virtue of the approaching world's fair. 

 Not long after he had mastered Chica- 

 goese he started in business for himself, 

 leasing the Hughes place on West Van 

 Buren street. Here his early experience 

 at Hamburg led Mr. Bruns to turn nat- 

 urally to lily of the valley, first for his 

 own retail trade but later as a spe- 

 cialty which became the principal part 

 of his business. He became the "valley 

 millionaire" some years ago, after he 

 had removed to his present stand at 1409 

 West Madison street, when he handled 

 more than a million pips a year; this 

 year his importations, following a sum- 

 mer's trip to Hamburg, will reach about 

 two million pips. In addition to the 

 great quantities forced for his own trade 

 and for the Chicago market, Mr. Bruns 

 does a large business in cold storage 

 pips, shipping to customers many hun- 

 dreds of miles away, and doing a con- 

 stantly growing trade without salesmen, 

 solely by advertising. 



Mr. Bruns always has been able to 

 find time from his private affairs to 

 lend a hand to whatever joint enterprise 

 the craft had in hand. He has been one 

 of the regular attendants and active 

 workers for the Chicago Florists' Club 

 and it was the natural and logical thing 

 that when his name was proposed for 

 the presidency of the club the selection 

 met with such unanimous approval that 

 he is the only nominee for the office at 



H. N. Bruns. 



the election scheduled to be hel<l tonight. 

 Mr. Bruns has a wife and three chil- 

 dren, a boy and two girls. He is a Ma- 

 son and a Shriner. He has the habit of 

 accomplishing that which he undertakes, 

 and enjoys the esteem of all whom he 

 meets, either in business or social rela- 

 tions. 



i< Mw>. ^^>H. <^^ '♦^ <<^ <^^ ^^^n. '•sm, <<^'*^»»^'*^^'^j^<^^<<Jw.>^-^'^^<^^'»^ 



THE RETAIL 



FLORIST 



t 

 _^ „ ^ 



PRESENTATION PIECES. 



A custom which florists may well en- 

 courage is that of presenting floral offer- 

 ings at the opening of new stores. This 

 practice has already made a strong be- 

 ginning and, while it is the means of 

 perpetrating a large number of mon- 

 strosities in the form of strange designs, 

 still it is a custom which makes for the 

 florists' profit, and, after all, it is profit 

 that we all are in business for. 



At a recent opening of a department 

 store in Brooklyn more than fifty testi- 

 monials of good will were sent by those 

 they patronized, and the total ran into 

 thousands of dollars. One set piece 

 alone brought to its maker $200, and 

 there were a dozen which represented an 

 expenditure of $100 or more. Of course 



this was an exceptional case, but wher- 

 ever a new dry goods, clothing or almost 

 any other kind of store is opened there 

 is more or less floral display. 



This is a business which florists may 

 easily work up. Wherever a new store is 

 known to be opening it is usually possi- 

 ble to ascertain the names and addresses 

 of the firms that have sold the stock of 

 goods. These may be written to and will 

 usually respond more or less liberally to 

 the suggestion that their customer Avill 

 appreciate a floral offering. If these 

 names are not to be had, then get a 

 copy of the trade paper representing 

 that particular line of business and write 

 a letter to the principal advertisers. You 

 may be sure that among them are the 

 nrms who have sold the new stock. Ad- 

 dress them something as follows: 



"As you doubtless know, Messrs. 

 Boots & Shoes have the formal opening 

 of their new store on Saturday of next 

 week. It occurs to us that you may 

 like to know of our facilities for making 

 .such floral pieces as are popular for ex- 

 pressions of good will on these occa- 

 sions. We do much of this work and 

 can supply any kind of a set piece you 

 may desire, or can arrange a suitable 

 piece if the matter is left to our discre- 

 tion. In any case the flowers and work 

 will be of the best, and excellent value 

 given for any sum you may place at our 

 disposal. Please forward your business 

 cards with your instructions;. ' ' 



Anything to make clear your intent 

 will do, but it must be written on 

 printed stationery and in a neat and in- 

 telligible manner. City merchants no 

 doubt have time to decipher orders writ- 

 ten on wrapping paper, but they have 

 no time for requests for business sub- 

 mitted in such a manner. Every florist 

 should have as good stationery as he can 

 afford and it is worth while to patronize 

 a public stenographer when you have im- 

 portant business letters to get out. We 

 know one florist whose reputation for 

 good business methods is enhanced be- 

 cause he sends out neat letters. Every 

 morning a stenographer who serves a 

 number of people calls at his place, takes 

 down his letters, goes back to her office 

 and in the evening delivers his letters for 

 his signature, with copies for reference, 

 all nicely typewritten. It is especially 

 worth while when the letters solicit busi- 

 ness, but in addition a good letterhead 

 and a neat letter have been known to get 

 a man a good deal more credit than he 

 itiillv was entitled to. 



