OCTOBEQ. 6, 1921 



The Rorists^ Review 



23 



THE RETAIL STORE 



A PAGE OF HINTS AND HELPS 

 FOR THE RETAIL FLORIST 



PENN'S NEW CAB CARD. 



Ding! Ding! All aboard! You are 

 now on the street car, fellow passengers. 

 What are you going to do? Those who 

 study human activities say that you 

 will relax, read the paper and study the 

 car cards, if you get a seat; if you do 

 not get a seat, you will not relax, you 

 may try to read the paper, but you will 

 surely study the car cards. 



Seated or standing, what a delightful 

 sensation of immediate pleasure one 

 gets from observing the car card shown 

 on this page! Penn the Florist, of Bos- 

 ton, did it. Here, you will agree, is a 

 rare bit of simplicity, good taste and 

 artistry that wields a strong appeal. For 

 it is a sweet recollection for the tired 

 father coming home from the office; a 

 pleasurable thought for the young man 

 taking his girl a box of candy — he will 

 take her some of Penn's flowers next 

 time; and a thrill for all the girls as 

 they see this fine picturization of the 

 greatest moment. They now know the 

 place where they can get the kind of 

 flowers they want. 



At any rate, fellow passengers, you 

 will admit that Penn the Florist, of 

 Boston, has made another hit, another 

 of the many brilliant advertising 

 strokes that are paying him in real dol- 

 lars and cents, besides being a credit to 

 the trade. From the standpoint either 

 of art or of advertising, this car card is 

 an excellent production. 



HANGER FOR FUNERAL PIECES. 



Arranging flowers for a funeral is not 

 ;in easy task and it is one for which 

 the florists' services are frequently in 

 demand. A spray laid beside the casket 

 Ss walked on, a wreath stood beside it is 

 brushed over, and havoc is played gen- 

 erally by those who view the remains, 

 especially if flowers are numerous and 

 the room is small. Years of experience 

 as an undertaker pressed upon J. C. 

 .fames, of Antioch, 111., the need for a 

 remedy. His device for this purpose was 

 simple. He fashioned hooks which 

 could be huHg on the casket, one end 

 grasping the edge, the other holding a 

 spray or wreath. It worked so well 

 that he had the liooks made by the 

 thousands at small cost and now a large 

 number of fellow undertakers are using 

 them. 



Some florists learned of the hanger. 

 W. ,T. Smyth, of Chicago, uses hundreds 

 of them for decorating purposes. Mr. 

 Smyth arranges flowers at funerals for 

 many well-to-do and socially prominent 

 south side families in Chicago. He 

 found the hanger of much help in do- 

 ing this in a satisfactory manner. Now 

 lie is using the hanger for placing ma- 

 terial over doorways, along walls and 

 in positioHs where one wishes to place 

 decoratioms without marring the surface 

 with tacks. A. Lange uses these hooks 

 in decorating the lattice in his windows 



at the new store on Madison street, Chi- 

 cago, and for other purposes. 



Mr. James used to make a rack for 

 arranging sprays at funerals, but the 

 hanger has proved so popular that its 

 use is spreading more widely. The 

 hangers may be carried away when the 

 flowers are picked up or they may be 

 removed and put in a pocket. They arc 

 only three and one-half inches long, so 

 they are not conspicuous, and they cost 

 but a few cents apiece; so that it does 

 not matter if they are lost after being 

 used. 



SHOW THEM SOME POTTERY. 



The Washingtonian who stops in the 

 store of J. H. Small & Sons, at Fifteenth 

 and H streets, is likely, after he or she 

 has made the purchase of flowers, to be 

 attracted by the extensive display of 

 2>ottery, glassware and artistic vessels 

 of various sorts suitable for containing 

 flowers, which occupy tables about the 

 store. One is apt to pause in considera- 

 tion of how much more beautiful the 

 flowers would be if they adorned a home 

 in some such an ornamental piece. 

 Many of those who stop and so con- 

 sider buy one or several pieces before 

 they leave. 



The florist who has not an array of 

 such ware for his customers is passing 

 up an easy profit. The stock will not 

 likely be so large as that of J. H. Small 

 & Sons for many florists. But one table, 

 surely, could be devoted to such a dis- 

 play in almost every florist 's shop. 



TELEGRAPH CODE NEEDED. 



It seems to me that a business which 

 is as largely dependent on the telegraph 

 as the florists' telegraph delivery is, 

 needs an intelligent telegraph code. 

 There are various codes, the Western 

 Union, the A. B. C, and others, cover- 

 ing particular lines of business, but 

 none of these will fit our business. A 

 small pamphlet of a few pages could 

 be made to cover about everything 



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necessary, and the customer 's purse 

 would be greatly benefited, which would 

 naturally redound to the credit of the 

 system of florists' telegraph delivery 

 without in any way affecting the 

 florist's profit. 



My observations indicate that most 

 wire orders arc long-distance, taking 

 the higher rates of telegraph tolls, 

 where each additional word over the 

 ten-word minimum counts up rapidly. 



I had occasion recently to telegraph 

 an order to Chicago, which required 

 twenty-four words when stated in the 

 briefest way possible: First the order, 

 five words; then address of party, nine 

 words; and card notation, ten words. 

 It could have been coded into fourteen 

 words, at a saving of 50 cents to the 

 customer. 



Protect your customer and he will 

 come back. Think it over. 



Yost Floral Co. 



CZECHOSLOVAK BASKETS. 



My attention has been called to the 

 recent inquiry in your publication which 

 read, "Please advise through your col- 

 umns where I may obtain baskets of the 

 Czechoslovakia style. M. B." 



The reply from one of your readers, 

 that there were no such baskets, which 

 appeared in a later issue, is not abso- 

 lutely correct. In Czechoslovakia there 

 are many well known manufacturers and 

 they have baskets of their own particu- 

 lar design and style. 



I shall be glad if you will inform 

 your inquirer of the following firms in 

 Czechoslovakia which export baskets, 

 and have been exporting them for many 

 years past, to the United States: F. 

 Fregl, Zabehliee, p. p. Zbraslav, Czecho- 

 slovakia. Kosickarske Druztvo, Praha 

 I, Karlova 50, Czechoslovakia. Mel- 

 nicka Spol pro prymysl kosikarsky, s. v. 

 <>. Melnik, Czechoslovakia. 



V. N. Ausler. 

 Czechoslovak Consul. 



«M<<ait., 



Str^et Car Card that Attracts Attention of Boston Passengers. 



