Sbptrmbee 24, 1914. 



The Florists' Review 



15 



RETAIL STORE MANAGEMENT 



WHAT THE LEADERS IN THE TRADE ARE DOLNG 



HOW TO DO IT. 



It is absolutely all right to send cir- 

 iilars or letters to possible flower 

 i.uyers, telling them of your stock, 

 \our facilities, your aims, or even to 

 make proposals in person at the prop- 

 ,1 time and place. It is not all right 

 til pester with begging letters solicit- 

 iiio business, to run down your com- 

 petitors, or to call unasked at a pri- 

 vate house. 



It is good business to have an at- 

 tractive show window that will draw 

 people into your shop by its charm, 

 hut it is bad business to go out on the 

 pavement and bring them inside. 



Tt is good business to show every- 

 thing worth showing in your shop, and 

 had business to ask a prospective cus- 

 tomer to buy it. 



It is good business to talk, to draw 

 your customer out. It is bad business 

 to talk too much. 



It is good business to show costly 

 tlowers or plants to a customer who 

 can afford them. It is bad business to 

 show- them to one who cannot afford 

 them. 



It is good business to give all you 

 have promised, and bad business to give 

 less. 



It is good business to give credit 

 where means and integrity warrant, 

 and bad business to give credit where 

 means or integrity does not warrant. 



It is good business to be courteous 

 to everyone. It is bad business to 

 waste your own and other people's 

 time. 



SIOXJX CITY FIRM GROWS. 



The branching out of the firm of 

 Kocklin & Lehman, of Sioux City, la., 

 with its opening of a store in Le Mars, 

 la., marks one more step in the growth 

 of this concern. It is seven years since 

 M. E. Rocklin, now general manager of 

 the three stores operated by this firm, 

 •'amp to Sioux City after manv vears' 

 experience with E. H. Hunt; and Bas- 

 sett & Washburn, of Chicago, and 

 opened a small store at 405 Douglas 

 street. Prosperity led to the opening 

 "t a branch store in the Martin hotel, 

 "ow in charge of Miss Shulkin, and the 

 rt'inoval of the main store from Doug- 

 ■■'^ street to new and larger quarters 

 ^t 402 Fourth street, where Mr. Sullivan 

 "as charge. As stated above, a store 

 ^^1'^ opened in Le Mars September 1, 

 ^■'lere the opening for a successful busi- 

 'if'SK seems good, and Mr. Newman is 

 at the helm. The three stores of the 

 "111 take all the flowers of three of the 

 •"^Kest Sioux City growers, who have a 

 f'' Hi of 100,000 feet of glass. The ad- 

 '•'y.»n of an automobile truck to the 

 ''''•very service has done its share in 

 '""^^ing the business. 



ON THE WAY. 



"Let 'er roll," called the pressman 

 to his assistant, and the big machine 

 began grinding out the third printing 

 of the Album of Designs. That was 

 several days ago. Complete copies of 

 the new edition are promised for de- 

 livery Octolier 5. 



The Album of Designs has proved the 

 most successful book ever printed for 

 florists. It met a widespread demand. 

 Florists everywhere felt the lack of a 

 means for showing prospective custom- 

 ers just how a funeral design or other 

 arrangement would look. The album 

 met the need. Among its 300 illustra- 

 tions one can find almost any design 



The Third Edition. 



that may be called for. In the hand- 

 somely printed pictures the florist can 

 show, better than he can tell in words, 

 how his design will look. Probably noth- 

 ing ever did so much to make easy the 

 selling of flowers. At any rate, the 

 first edition sold out in half the time 

 that was expected, the second edition 

 went nearly as fast, and now The Re- 

 view has orders on file for a large num- 

 ber of copies of the third edition, on 

 which shipment will begin October o, 

 orders being filled in rotation. The 

 price of the book is only 75 cents per 

 copy, postpaid, or $(> per dozen by ex- 

 press, collect. 



1 f':?*^^' CaL— Miss Kate Parsons, the 

 '•tail florist -iii/i \Kri^^ a "\fn>„v>„ii <-kr> 



iiu 



florist, and Will S. Marshall, the 

 ^ f'^eryinan, are taking active parts in 

 "'improvement of the citv as members 

 fhe city beautiful committee. 



FROM A RETAILER'S VIEWPOINT. 



[A papei- entitled "The Horlsts' Business from 

 n Retailer's Point of View." read by Charles K. 

 Edgir before the meetiuK of the Lancaster County 

 Florists' Club September 17.1 



The retail florist of today, in order to 

 make his business a paying proposition 

 and be successful, must be original, ar- 

 tistic and up-to-the-minute, there having 

 been many changes in this particular 

 line in the last ten or twelve years. 



In the olden days the customer who 



made a floral purchase would, nine times 

 out of ten, have made up his mind as to 

 about what he wanted — it would prob- 

 ably be a gates ajar, broken column, 

 Bible, broken wheel, wheat sheaf or pil- 

 low — but things have changed. Today 

 it is strictly up to the one behind the 

 counter to make the suggestion, and the 

 one who can suggest something out of 

 the ordinary is the one who will win 

 out in the long run. 



Clusters, baskets and wreaths of vari- 

 ous forms are becoming more popular 

 every day and must be worked up in 

 many different combinations and color 

 schemes. Then comes the corsage bou- 

 quet of numerous types, made up for 

 street wear and dances. Flowers for the 

 sick are made presentable by being put 

 in a basket with a water receptacle or 

 packed loose in a box. All of these sug- 

 gestions are looked for from the striv- 

 ing retailer, as the public is becoming 

 more educated every day as to the va- 

 rieties and keeping qualities of the 

 many cut flowers that are grown. 



Value of Appearance. 



The appearance of one's shop and the 

 courtesy shown by the clerks carry great 

 weight with the prospective buyer, or, 

 la other words, one must act as if noth- 

 ing is a trouble to satisfy his customer. 



The window should be kept up to the 

 minute with seasonable stock and new 

 ideas as to the uses of our productions, 

 as this is the main advertising point 

 and should not be neglected under any 

 consideration. Then, it is up to him to 

 turn out the best workmanship possible 

 and give a dollar's worth for a dollar. 



Right here might come in the subject 

 of the cutting of prices. I would not 

 maintain that a uniform price is the 

 proper thing, but I do maintain that to 

 cheapen the price because there is a 

 surplus on the market is of no benefit 

 to anyone; the sales are not increased 

 to any appreciable extent, and the buy- 

 er does not properly appreciate what he 

 buys, from the fact that the flowers are 

 a cut-price article. This point could be 

 enlarged upon indefinitely, but I want it 

 well discussed from the different points 

 of view of our members here. 



The retailer, however, who does not 

 grow his own flowers or plants and has 

 to purchase all of his stock must look 

 to the commission man or the grower 

 for his main su])port, and in this case 

 the grower should work with his com- 

 mission man and keep him posted. The 

 commission man can advise his retailer 

 just what stock to purchase and push, 

 and by all working together in the so- 

 called cooperative way, we shall all de- 

 rive beneit. - 



THROUGH THE RANKS. 



If there is anyone in Detroit who 

 knows every phase of the retail busi- 

 ness from experience, it is John H. 

 Klang, who is celebrating the opening 

 of his new store at 715 East Forest 

 avenue. Something less than twenty 

 years ago Mr. Klang started in as de- 



