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The Weekly Florists' Review* 



January 13, 1910. 



Third-floor Salesroom of the A. W. Smith Co., Keenan Building, Pittsburg, Pa. 



where cut flower stock is kept. All work 

 is made up-out of sight of the customers, 

 which adds not only to the appearance of 

 the store but to the facility with which 

 a large business cam be handled. 



The Street Store. 



The main store on the first floor is one 

 of the handsomest in the country, as a 

 glance at the other accompanying illus- 

 tration will show. As in the modern 

 flower stores, there are no counters here, 

 and there never is any rush or litter. On 

 two sides there are over 100 feet of show 

 windows, which are kept attractively dec- 

 orated. Along the other side and end of 

 the store is a mezzanine, under which is 

 the cut flower display case, fifty-two feet 

 long, and cooled by artificial refrigera- 

 tion. Here flowers are arranged, not 

 stored. This display case always is ar- 

 ranged for effect, the flowers being in 

 brass receptacles, designed and patented 

 by the Smith Co. The salesmen sell the 

 stock from these display cases, and the 

 vases are replenished from the stock box 

 in another room. There never is any 

 haste, noise or excitement in this store, 

 the effort being to create an artistic at- 

 mosphere. There is a fountain plashing 

 near the front entrance; there is music, 

 and about the room there are cages of 

 canary birds, which add to the charm, 

 and it is more the rule than otherwise for 

 customers to take seats and enjoy their 

 surroundings after their orders have been 

 taken and shot to the work-room through 

 the pneumatic tubes. 



No less an authority than Philip Breit- 

 meyer says that the Smith Co. has the 

 ideal flower shop of this country. 



History of the Firm. 



A. W. Smith, following a natural love 

 for plants and flowers, put up a green- 



house in 1874. The stock he grew was 

 handled so well that his trade kept on 

 increasing until the concern now has 

 thirty-five houses, but grows in them only 

 the things which cannot conveniently be 

 bought in the market. The output prac- 

 tically all is handled through the retail 

 store. In 1892 Mr. Smith opened his 

 first store, and about this time his sons, 

 having completed their education and 

 having inherited the business tastes of 

 their father, came into the firm, in the 

 end taking charge of the retail depart- 

 ment and giving their father better op- 

 portunity to look after the growing end. 

 Last year the firm was incorporated, 

 with the following officers: President, 

 A. W. Smith; secretary and manager, A. 

 W. Smith, Jr.; treasurer, W. Jarvis 

 Smith. It was only last October that 

 they moved into the large store in the 

 Keenan building, with its over 9,000 

 square feet of floor space. 



Progressive Ideas on Retailing. 



The members of the Smith organiza- 

 tion had several ideas which were unusual 

 among florists a few years ago. One of 

 these ideas was the necessity for system. 

 Everything has been governed by system 

 from the start, and they have so systema- 

 tized every operation that business moves 

 like clockwork. Another idea new at the 

 time they began to put it into practice 

 was that advertising is a potent and 

 profitable influence for the retail florist 

 who handles it the right way. Another 

 idea was that the purchaser of small 

 means should not be ignored, and they 

 have always found a way to make it pos- 

 sible for a customer to get something 

 pretty and good, and that he would not 

 be ashamed to present to anyone, for a 

 price he could afford to pay. Today, not- 



withstanding the large business that haa 

 been built up, A. W. Smith, Jr., will point 

 out a sign in gold letters in one of their 

 windows: "The Home of the Dollar 

 Box." 



They believed at the start that it pays 

 to advertise, and now they know it, hav- 

 ing kept at it consistently until the name 

 is known in every home. The following is 

 one of their advertisements now running 

 in all street cars in the city: 



"Travelers over both continents say 

 no other flower store compares with this, 

 not only in America but in all the world. 

 Pittsburgers are profitably enjoying these 

 unparalleled advantages. Have you seen 

 our display today? You are always wel- 

 come. ' ' 



BUILDING UP A RETAIL TRADE. 



[A paper read before the Florists' Clnb of 

 Philadelphia, January 4, 1910, by Edward A. 

 Stroud.] 



I wiU tell you a few of my experiences 

 and some of the methods I have employed 

 in conducting a retail business which I 

 established some years ago in Overbrook. 



It is possible for a florist in town to 

 confine himself to a few departments of 

 the business and make a success of it 

 financially, but I do not think this is pos- 

 sible with a florist in the suburbs. To 

 make his business a success he has to 

 take up many different lines of work. He 

 should be a landscape gardener, a grower 

 of plants and flowers, a decorator, and, 

 in fact, a general all-round man. 



Versatility Needed in the Suburbs. 



After a family has moved from the 

 city, with its confined quarters, and few 

 opportunities for the cultivation of their 

 taste in the planting of their grounds, 

 and, as a rule, with little or no knowledge 

 in this direction, it is of vital importance- 



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