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Skptbubbk 12, 1012. 



The Florists^ Review 



9 



i*^ RETAIL FLOWER i^ 

 STORE MANAGEMENT 



THE USE OF SMILAX. 



When a florist is called upon to deco- 

 rate for a large dinner, he frequently 

 finds that the table arrangement pro- 

 vides for the seating of the guests on 

 one side only, the table usually being 

 set around three sides of the room, 

 sometimes in the shape of a horseshoe. 

 With such an order the florist's task is 

 not only to make the top of the table 

 attractive with flowers, but to properly 

 decorate the unused side. 



The accompanying illustration shows 

 an especially good treatment. This was 

 an immense horseshoe-shaped table and 

 the unused side was garlanded with smi- 

 lax. The illustration shows how ex- 

 actly alike all the loops in the garland 

 were, and it is a more important fea- 

 ture than the flowers themselves, which 

 consisted principally of roses in baskets. 

 This was the work of John Mangel, 

 Chicago, for a wedding dinner with 

 fifty-two guests. 



AN INTELLIGENCE DEPABTMENT. 



In Every Retail Store. 



One of the most crying needs of 

 many an otherwise well managed retail 

 store is what may, for want of a better 

 title, be. termed the intelligence depart- 

 ment. Customers, especially in the 

 smaller cities and towns, have a habit 

 of asking for many things not usually 

 oflFered prominently, though they are 

 easily obtained and may be disposed 

 of at a good profit. The ignorance of 

 many clerks and even proprietors of re- 

 tail stores, as to what kinds of plants 

 are grown in nearby nursery or green- 

 house establishments, is a culpable neg- 

 lect of one of the greatest aids to 

 business. 



I am positive that, were one to strike 

 an average, the proprietor of a retail 

 store does not visit as often as once 



in two years the growers who supply 

 him. The wide-awake ones do, and 

 reap the benefit by always knowing 

 what the various growers have to offer 

 and where they can procure anything 

 asked for and not usually kept in stock. 



Visiting the Grower. 



There may still be some dull days in 

 store for us befpjfe the season opens 

 up. Now, whic](''^is the better way to 

 spend one of these dull days? Some 

 proprietors we know, and also some 

 clerks, stay around the store and grum- 

 ble and kick about bad times, with oc- 

 casional visits to a nearby bar to flog 

 their drooping spirits. Others take a 

 trip to the greenhouses or nurseries 

 whence comes their stock, find out what 

 is likely to be in the market and have 

 a "crack" with the grower on topics 

 of interest to both. Figure out which 

 will be the better prepared the next 

 day, should anything of the kind men- 

 tioned above materialize. In probably 

 no other business is the proprietor so 

 little informed' as to what is going on 

 as is the. retail florist; yet, as a rule, 

 no one is more disposed to talk about 

 his wares or more anxious to give in- 

 formation than the grower of cut flow- 

 ers and plants. 



An Unseen Opportunity. 



A plantsman complained to me one 

 day that his customers, the retailers, 

 were behind the times and would handle 

 nothing but Boston ferns and coleuses. 

 At the same time the plantsman pointed 

 to some neat, well grown plants of 

 Ficus pandurata and Aralia Japonica he 

 was anxious to turn into money. A 

 few days later I was speaking to a 

 retailer who had a draughty window 

 that he wanted to fix up, in which the 

 ordinary plants would not last. Fortu- 

 nately, I was able to act as his intelli- 

 gence department and a call over the 



telephone did the business. It may be 

 said that it was the grower's place to 

 inform the retailer as to what he had 

 and what useful plants they were for 

 the purpose. This may be so, but it is 

 equally or even more important for the 

 retailer to know of these things, and 

 this is where it pays the proprietors to 

 visit, or allow their clerks to visit, the 

 growing places around their town. 



Where the Faker Steps In. 



There are many other directions in 

 which an intelligence department may 

 be useful. In almost every town of any 

 size there are street fakers and door- 

 way florists handling staple lines of cut 

 flowers. A grower may, for instance, 

 be long on carnations and his regular 

 customers are not able, in the ordinary 

 course of trade, to handle his cut. Mr. 

 Street Faker happens along with the 

 money in his hand, and in a few hours 

 is offering those carnations at less 

 money than the retailer paid his grower. 

 Let the seeker after information find 

 out where these cheap flowers can be 

 obtained and possibly a bargain sale 

 may be arranged between the grower 

 and retailer that will be to the advan- 

 tage of both, besides keeping the flow- 

 ers out of the hands of the faker. 



In New Neighborhoods. 



In towns that are developing rapidly 

 the intelligence officer should familiar- 

 ize himself with the progress being 

 made in new neighborhoods, and pos- 

 sibly he may see a chance to profitably 

 dispose of a few business cards or any 

 advertising matter his firm uses. He 

 may get acquainted with undertakers, 

 hotel keepers and others in these new 

 districts, where the business has not 

 been pushed. 



In short, a man can hardly spend a 

 quarter in street car riding or on gaso- 

 line for his motorcycle without picking 

 up something that will be useful in his 



Illustrating the Decoration of the Unused Side of a Honeshoe4haped Table. 



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