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10 



The Florists^ Review 



October 22, 1914. 



time. The sto.k 

 make room," as 



OrderliDess Without Stiffness is an Object to be Striven For. 



appearance and make slippery spots 

 that risk a customer's fall. Everything 

 •will have its place and will be kept 

 there. Convenience and comfort will be 

 the marks of the establishment, with- 

 out either disorder on the one hand or 

 stiffness of appearance on the other. 



Like a Habit. 



The accompanying illustrations show 

 how profitable are the results of a little 

 care. They are of the store of the La 

 Crosse Floral Co., of La Crosse, Wis. 

 This company's business has increased 

 so rapidly in the six years of its exist- 

 ence that it was recently decided to 

 open a store to facilitate carrying on 

 trade. Maintaining its high standard, 

 the company obtained the best of fix- 

 tures and furnishings, and, to still 

 further hold to its high record, it gave 

 every attention to keeping up the ex- 

 cellent appearance of the place. 



It is easy to keep up appearances in a 

 new store, some may say. True, for in a 

 new store there are no bad habits to 

 break. But good habits, once formed, 

 will wear just as well in an old place, 

 and to a much more appreciable advan- 

 tage. The first object is to get the 

 good habits, and with these, appearances 

 will seem to keep up themselves, almost 

 without effort. 



DEPABTBIENT STOBE METHODS. 



A live journal must tell its readers 

 what is going on, to be in touch with 

 the times. The most important thing 

 in the flower business today is the 

 method employed to sell flowers and 

 plants in the department stores of the 

 larger cities. -The methods have mate- 

 rially changed since the heads of the 

 great stores have better understood 

 conditions. 



Formerly the flower department was 

 under one of their own people, a 

 trader, a business man; today it is 

 run by a florist, who must have busi- 

 ness ability, usually on the percentage 

 plau. So rapid has been the growth 

 of the business in these department 



stores that it affects the whole flower 

 business — wholesaler, retailer and grow- 

 er alike. The wholesalers understand 

 the conditions under which department 

 store sales are made better than either 

 the retailers or the growers, who view 

 them from a more or -^ess prejudiced 

 point of view. The retailers believe 

 that the department stores take away 

 their customers in some cases and 

 cheapen their stock in others. The 

 growers believe that the prices paid 

 are starvation prices and that the 

 claims made are unwarranted. Despite 

 these conflicting views, many of our 

 thinking florists are coming to the con- 

 clusion that the department store 

 flower shop is a decided advantage to 

 the business today. The surpluses inci- 



dent to the growth of business are so 

 large that a way must be found to 

 move them. Price is not the first con- 

 sideration at such a 

 must be moved "to 

 the signs say. 



The things that are not generaHy 

 understood by the retailers are that 

 the department stores pay fair prices 

 for the stock they buy and that in 

 nearly every case they make quite ; s 

 large a profit as the retailer does; when 

 they don't, the difference is more than 

 made up by the amount of advertising 

 obtained from the hullabaloo. For 

 instance, a specimen plant purchased 

 at $6 is offered for sale at $15.89, and 

 if it doesn't sell in a week it is marked 

 "Special, $12.29." Koses that no re- 

 tailer will buy are purchased at $5 per 

 thousand and offered at 1 cent each, 

 12 cents per dozen. The market hav- 

 ing tightened; in other words, all the 

 poor roses having been sold, the same 

 roses are offered after lunch at 2 cents 

 each, 24 cents per dozen, while the 

 crowd thickens around the counter. 

 Ferns that cost 50 cents are attrac- 

 tively marked at 98 cents, which, when 

 you consider that the stock is quickly 

 handled, is not so bad. 



The modern flower shop in a depart- 

 ment store must have a live florist, who 

 understands his business thoroughly, in 

 charge. Such a man knows when there 

 is a surplus of anything and what that 

 thing is worth. He brings producer 

 and consumer together and must make 

 a fair profit to make it worth his while 

 to do so. Most florists have ceased to 

 believe that these sales seriously affect 

 prices, because they see that most of 

 the department store buyers are rarely 

 flower buyers. When they become so, 

 they require something better than a 

 department store can supply, and for 

 that they go to a florist. 



The growers are less strenuous in 

 their opposition to the new method. 

 They have some painful moments over 

 the prices and the come-backs, but it 

 teaches them business, and in so doing 

 is of great value. Whether wo like it 

 or not, the department store flower 



A Few Plants and Cut Flowers Look Better than a Mass of Them. 



