8 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



Februauy 22, 1012. 



pay promptly is an essential in buying 

 right. Advertising, no matter bow it is 

 done, costs money; and i% is advertise, 

 advertise and keep on advertising to get 

 business; and do more advertising to 

 hold it after you get it. No man can 

 stand still in business nowadays. Every 

 business must either grow larger or 

 grow smaller and the man who finds his 

 business stationary in volume must eith- 

 er mend his ways or get out while the 

 getting out is good. 



The Mournful Subject of Gluts. 



Much and endless discussion has gone 

 on about the mournful subject of gluts 

 in the market and how to avoid these 

 direful calamities. Nonsense! They al- 

 ways have been and always will be, 

 when dealing in perishable commodities. 

 Why not put this old, moth-eaten sub- 

 ject on the shelf and get out a brand- 

 new and live one, ' ' How to Make Gluts 

 Profitable"? Here is the store man's 

 chance to even up with the grower for 

 what the latter does to him at Christmas 

 and other holiday times. 



There is not a dry-goods shop in the 

 country that does not have a series of 

 mark-down or bargain sales from year 

 end to year end, and the bigger and 

 more prosperous the shop, the bigger 

 and more elaborate the sales. Have we 



not a great lesson to learn here? And 

 how many of us have learned it? Faw 

 men are so wealthy as not to dearly love 

 a bargain, and no women are. The bar- 



gain basement is found in all our ' ' pala 

 tial dry-goods emporiums." Why not in 

 our palatial flower shops? Tbink about 

 it. 



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MBS. TAFT'S BASKET. 



The large illustration in this issue 

 is reproduced from a photograph made 

 at Washington, D. C, and shows a bas- 

 ket arranged by W. Marche & Co. It 

 was for presentation to Mrs. Taft, and 

 naturally everything that goes to the 

 White House has to be first-class. In 

 this case the flowers used were White 

 Killarney roses and mixed orchids. One 

 of the interesting features is that every 

 flower had its stem in water, although 

 not one of the water tubes was in sight 

 of the camera. 



THE CHTCACO DAILY TRIBUNE 



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Probably the Most Costly Advertisement Ever Printed by a Florist. 



THE EVOLUTION OF BETAILING. 



Whither Are We Ctoing? 



The principal subject of discussion in 

 the trade at Chicago this week has 

 been the operations of the Fleischman 

 Floral Co., and the diversity of opinion 

 developed is strongly reminiscent of 

 the erstwhile popular slang phrase, "I 

 don't know where I'm going, but I'm 

 on my way." Few of the many who 

 have talked on the matter have given 

 even a moment's consideration to 

 Fleischman's point of view; their only 

 concern has been with the effect on 

 individual interests. That Fleisch 

 man's course will have its effect on the 

 trade as a whole nearly all agree, but 

 as to just what the effect will be there- 

 are the most divergent views. 



What Fleisclunan is Doing. 



It should be considered that Fleiscb 

 man has one of the best equipped stores 

 in the country, high class in every re 

 spect. For some years after ^the busi- 

 ness was started only the best class of 

 trade was catered to and the prices 

 charged were probably as good as in 

 any store west of the Hudson. Then 

 the policy apparently was changed. 

 Volume of business was sought and the 

 daily papers were used to tell of special 

 sales. In the present season larger and 

 larger spaces have been used and, while 

 much emphasis has been put on the 

 service given, prices have been strongly 

 featured; and the prices in many in 

 stances have been uncomfortably close 

 to the wholesale rates for small lots of 

 selected stock. Usually only one item 

 has been advertised at a time — some 

 thing in large supply. The climax came 

 Monday morning, February 19, when 

 the whole back page in the highest 

 priced daily in Chicago, and smaller 

 spaces in other papers, were used to ex 

 ploit a "Twelfth Anniversary Flower 

 Carnival," with the prices quoted on 

 several items right down to what th( 

 stock was bringing, in small lots, at 

 wholesale. Other items appeared to af 

 ford a moderate margin of profit, but 

 the general impression given by the ad 

 vertising was that a high class retai' 

 store was spending many hundreds of 

 dollars to offer flowers at the whole 

 sale prices. 



The First Effect. 



For a long time the other buyers ir 

 the Chicago market have pointed to 

 the Ileischman advertising as a reason 

 for insisting on lower prices for them 

 selves, arguing that they must be given 

 a chance to compete and live. The 

 morning the full page advertisement 

 appeared dozens of buyers brought it 



