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KEEPING UP sir 



X APPEARANCES 



Appearances may he deceptive, J)ut people believe in them just the 

 same. The first view of the retailer's store wMkes a iig impression upon 

 the chance buyer. It may tvin or it may lose a good customer. The suc- 

 cessfid florist takes no changes, but is careful to keep up appearances. 



TJST as true aa the old adage, 

 "Clothes make the man," 

 is the less common expres- 

 sion, "Looks make the 

 store," and in both there 

 is considerably more truth 

 than poetry. Appearances 

 count tremendously, particularly in the 

 business of buying and selling. Did you 

 ever stop to consider why practically all 

 traveling men are of a portly, prosper- 

 ous, Frank Mclntyre typef In this case 

 it's not true that "nobody loves a fat 

 man," for the weighty travelers seem to 

 receive the most weighty consideration 

 from those they call on. There is a 

 good reason for it, too — a sound psycho- 

 logical basis, as the college professors 

 would say. Stout men look prosperous 

 and successful, and we believe what they 

 say when they advise us to buy their 

 goods in order to make money. Most 

 men of lean cast look as though worry 

 kept them thin, and we suspect they 

 want us to buy their line so that they 

 can make some money. It's all in ap- 

 pearance. 



The Prosperous Look. 



The same line of reasoning holds good 

 in connection with the retail store. 

 Some stores have a prosperous look, 

 while others, not nec- 

 essarily older, look as 

 though they had seen 

 better days. They 

 give one the impres- 

 sion that busiuesp is 

 poor. ,^ ^^.^t ; 



The same trait in 

 human character that 

 makes the path of the 

 corpulent traveling 

 man an easier one, 

 aflils to the business 

 ♦J f the prosperous 

 looking store and di- 

 '"inishes the patron- 

 ?Kt^ of the lean look- 

 ] /' f,' establishment. 

 , ^le that hath (or 

 looks as though he 

 ^■I'n), to him shall be 

 «'ven; and he that 

 hrith not, from him 

 s'^'il be taken away," 

 1^ as truly a law of 

 "•"ure today as it 

 ^<-s when those words 

 !i;r'e first written. 

 " all prefer to make 



^*^'^es where 



span. It is to be expected that the re- 

 tail florist's patrons — distinctly of the 

 better class of people — certainly should 

 have that preference in purchasing 

 flowers, over the freshness, daintiness, 

 delicacy, etc., of which they so often 

 grow verbose. Experience has shown 

 that they are influenced by the appear- 

 ance of the place, and as a general rule 

 the flower store is the leader among 

 shops in appearance. 



A Specialty Shop. 



When comparison is drawn between 

 the florist's and other shops, the stores 

 considered are not those of the grocer, 

 the butcher and the hardware man — 

 those are entirely out of his class. The 

 stores which inyite comparison with the 

 florist's are the high-class specialty 

 shops — the milliner's, the jeweler's and 

 the like. These cater to the same class 

 of people as the florist and conduct 

 their business on the same high plane. 

 They are the stores from which he may 

 take pointers, although among these the 

 florist usually is the leader. 



His high standard of business calls 

 for a particularly good store, and its 

 appearance must at all times be of the 

 best. "First impressions are strong- 

 est," because, as a witty gentleman 



th; 



every- 



'^S is spick-and- The Pint View of the Visitor Entering the Store Should Give a Favorable Impression. 



remarked, * ' first impressions last. ' ' The 

 view that meets the eye of a visitor 

 upon his entering the store may be the 

 means of driving him away or of making 

 a permanent patron. It is well worth 

 the effort to keep up an appearance that 

 will produce the second result. 



The proprietor of one of the largest 

 and best retail stores in the middle west 

 remarked that every time he entered 

 his store he tried to assume the point 

 of view of a customer entering it for 

 the first time. Perhaps that is one of 

 the reasons why the gentleman 's store 

 is one of the largest and the best. In 

 this way he gained suggestions for im- 

 proving the appearance of the place, so 

 that visitors would be favorably im- 

 pressed. 



Doing the work. 



The head of the store who follows this 

 plan will find many suggestions to make. 

 To carry them out, it has been found a 

 good practice to assign to each employee 

 a certain part or section of the store, 

 which he shall not only always keep in 

 order, but which he may improve in 

 appearance as his ingenuity suggests. 



The responsibility thus placed on the 

 employee serves to develop his thinking 

 apparatus as well as better the looks of 

 the store, and both 

 employer and em- 

 ployed are benefited 

 in more ways than 

 one. 



So many times have 

 the opinions of The 

 Review been set forth 

 in regard to the fur- 

 nishings, arrange- 

 ment, etc., of the 

 modern flower store 

 that a repetition is 

 unnecessary. Florists 

 are well aware, also, 

 what constitu tes 

 neatness and good ap- 

 pearance in a store. 

 The salesroom is to a 

 certain extent a dis- 

 play room, but it 

 should never be a 

 storeroom or a work- 

 room. If this is re- 

 membered, litter, un- 

 tidiness, crowding of 

 materials or stock, 

 etc., will be avoided. 

 Water will not be 

 splashed about on the 

 floor, or at any rate, 

 left there, to spoil the 



