JUNB 29, 1911. 



The Weekly Rorists' Review. 



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THE MODERN s;^ 



FLOWER SHOP 



HINTS ON A TIMELY TOPIC. 



Beauty a Business Ass^. 



Only a few years ago a store was 

 just a store, nothing more. One iron- 

 clad type was followed for drugs or 

 dry goods, furniture or furnishings. 

 But nowadays stores are designed with 

 direct reference to the business to be 

 carried on. The chain of stores cor- 

 poration adopts a distinctive front, 

 and one quite different from that 

 which would be wanted by a decorator; 

 the ladies' tea room tears out the front 

 the drug store used and puts in one as 

 different as possible, with interior 

 trimmings to match. 



"Whyf Because the up-to-date busi- 

 ness man thoroughly understands that 

 individuality, if not beauty, is a com- 

 mercial asset. So he pays skilled art- 

 ists to design his advertisements, and 

 skilled architects to design his build- 

 ing. He knows the public is not at- 

 tracted by ugly things. 



Improvement in Flower Shops. 



It is only within recent years that 

 retail florists have given thought to 

 special construction to meet the needs 

 of their individual line of business. In 

 the beginning of retail flower selling 

 in practically all the smaller cities, the 

 florist merely rents a vacant store, puts 

 in some fixtures and is ready for busi- 

 ness. Eventually, however, the florist 



comes to want something distinctive. 

 Then he either remodels an old build- 

 ing or builds one suited to his need. 



So here's a flower shop carefully 

 planned for beauty and service. With 

 slight modifications the plans can be 

 adapted to any special circumstance; 

 the store either can be erected from 

 the bottom up, complete, or some of 

 the ideas suggested can be embodied 

 in the alteration of a building already 

 standing. 



A Distinctive Front. 



The flower store front should break 

 away from the commonplace lines of 

 the other buildings in the block; the 

 dead level of commonplaceness never 

 attracts special attention. Therefore, 

 in the plan, three cream white columns 

 carry the arches and brick work — 

 tapestry or some similar rough, pic- 

 turesque brick is proper here. Then, 

 just below the coping, a line of brack- 

 ets carries a long, copper-covered box, 

 which can be filled with evergreens in 

 winter and planted with geraniums and 

 vincas, or with any number of other 

 suitable subjects, for summer decora- 

 tion. 



A flower shop should be a flower 

 shop I 



The Interior. 



Inside comes a salesroom. The inte- 

 rior fixtures must be planned in accord- 

 ance with the florist's own ideas. 



Many modern flower shops contain no 

 counters, while some have no ice-box, 

 the stock being displayed on tables. 

 But the average store in small cities 

 will want shelving or display cases 

 along one wall, with a counter in front, 

 and the glass-fronted refrigerator on 

 the other side of the store. 



In the present instance leaded glass 

 doors across the rear add to the at- 

 tractiveness of the interior. At the 

 left one pair of these doors opens upon 

 a smaU yard; tthe other pair, into a 

 conservatory. A variation from the 

 plan would be to put a workroom at 

 the rear, instead of in the basement, 

 as is intended in the present instance. 

 If the workroom were to go at the 

 rear, it would be wise to place a spe- 

 cially built refrigerator across the 

 store at the partition dividing sales- 

 room from workroom. In this case 

 plate glass doors in front would give 

 the salesmen access to the stock, while 

 doors in the rear of the box would 

 permit access from the workroom. 

 Also, the box would be built so that 

 ice would be put in from the work- 

 room, thereby saving much disorder 

 which cannot be escaped if the box is 

 located wholly within the salesroom. 



One of the greatest conveniences a 

 flower store can have, however, is a 

 conservatory. If decorating is part jof 

 the florist's business, he must have 

 some place to store his plants. Also, 

 stock for sale keeps better, looks bet- 

 ter and sells better if kept in a green- 



Front Elevation for a Modern Flower Shop.— Villiam Draper Brinkle, Arehitect. 



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