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The Florists^ Review 



15 



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MAKING ANOTHER 

 SPECIAL FLOWER DAY 



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33 



[The purpose of this issue is to get 10,000 florists each to do at least a little something to 1 

 attract the attention of the public to the appropriateness of flowers for use as valentines. J 





T. VALENTINE'S day, Feb- 

 ruary 14, offers florists an 

 unusually easy opportunity 

 to work up another special 

 flower day. The public is 

 ripe for it. Eeady at hand, 

 only waiting to be turned to use, is 

 a sentiment ages old. 



Eead up on St. Valentine's day and 

 you will find its origin lost in the mists 

 of antiquity. You will find tales of 

 many interesting and amusing customs 

 peculiar to the different peoples of the 

 world, but nowhere in the Acta Sanc- 

 torum, among the legends 

 of the many saints of the 

 name, is there any trace of 

 the practice peculiar to the 

 day as we know it — the day 

 on which since time imme- 

 morial brave men have sent 

 fair ladies fond tokens. 



Children may exchange 

 the crimped paper contrap- 

 tions with the amorous 

 verses that the department 

 stores and stationers dis- 

 play in such quantity and 

 variety, but for full-grown 

 men and women these 

 things are impossible. 



All they need, however, 

 is the suggestion to send 

 flowers. 



Of all the obvious things 

 of this world, the appropri- 

 ateness of flowers for val- 

 entines is most perfectly 

 plain. It needs no argu- 

 ment — only don't wait for 

 people to think of it for 

 themselves. 



In the last couple of 

 years there has been a 

 smart increase in the Val- 

 entine's day sales of flow- 

 ers, mostly corsage bou- 

 quets, because florists have 

 become more wide-awake 

 to business opportunities 

 and have, here and there, 

 done more or less to bring their mer- 

 chandise to the attention of those who 

 need only to be reminded to become 

 buyers. The jump in sales February 

 14 this year will be far greater than 

 in 1912 simply because none of those 

 who have seen how easily it works 

 will ever again omit the effort, and 

 because many more will take it up. 



February 14 is in a fair way to be- 

 come one of the important special 

 flower days. 



We all know how quickly and easily 

 Mothers' day was pushed into profit- 

 able prominence by the florists. It will 

 be even easief with Valentine 's day, 

 for the reason that the observance 

 already is established and because 



flowers and hearts go naturally to- 

 gether. 



If every retail florist this year 

 spends ten per cent of his sales for 

 February 14 last year in three days' 

 advertising in his • best local paper, a 

 wonderful impetus will be given the 

 business. 



While newspaper advertising is the 

 quickest and most effective way of 

 reaching the great body of flower buy- 

 ers, there are other ways that should 

 not be neglected. The store window 

 stiU is a potent advertising medium 



"Quite a few complimented ns on the APPEARANCE or 

 WORDING of this advertisement, but, -what is far more import- 

 ant, it broneht a fine lot of business to the store." — CowsiH. 



and, it must be said, the only one used 

 by the great majority of florists. By 

 all means plan a special decoration. 

 This is easy, for heart-shaped boxes, 

 Cupid's darts and ribbons will give 

 the necessary connection practically 

 without expense. A display card, neatly 

 lettered, will let those who pause know 

 that orders may be left for boxes of 

 flowers or corsage bouquets to be de- 

 livered at any designated hour of Val- 

 entine's day. Mailing cards may be 

 sent out, or neatly printed little slips 

 may be enclosed with bills, receipts 

 and other correspondence. 



And don't forget the orders to be 

 wired to other cities for your corre- 

 spondents to fill. This exchange busi- 



ness is growing steadily and St. Valen- 

 tine 's day is a specially good time for 

 it. Let the man away from home, or 

 whose wife or sweetheart is away, 

 know that you have facilities for de- 

 livering a corsage bouquet attractively 

 put up in a special valentine package 

 and you are almost sure to get his 

 order. Then, don't use the parcel post 

 unless the distance is short and you 

 are willing to run the risk of having 

 the flowers crushed — if you haven't 

 a regular correspondent in the town 

 send the order to the florist there who 

 has his card in The Ee- 

 view's department of 

 Leading Eetail Florists. 



Besides planning adver- 

 tising for St. Valentine's 

 day business, plan your 

 special offerings. One of 

 the minor difficulties of 

 flower selling is the same- 

 ness of the stock. Here 

 comes a day on which you 

 can offer a variety — heart- 

 shaped boxes decorated 

 with hearts and darts, 

 something neither you nor 

 any other florist will offer 

 on any other day in the 

 year. A few of the higher 

 priced heart-sha,ped ham- 

 pers and other specialties 

 of the supply dealers are a 

 good investment even if 

 you do not sell them; you 

 can use them in your win- 

 dow display next year as 

 well as this. 



It takes merely a little 

 push, with all hands work- 

 ing, to set the business 

 ball a-roUing for St. Val- 

 entine 's. Let 's all do 

 something, each in his own 

 way, each for his own 

 profit. 



The following pages 

 carry articles and illus- 

 trations showing how pro- 

 gressive florists made good money, and 

 the things they sold last year. Eead 

 these articles; study the illustrations. 

 Don't go at it with the idea of copying 

 but, rather, with the idea of thinking 

 out something for yourself that is new 

 and different. Individuality, personal- 

 ity, is what so many flower stores lack. 

 It is not to be obtained by copying, but 

 by thinking. It is not easy for a man 

 not blessed with originality to be 

 original, but the florist who merely 

 plods along the beaten path makes prog- 

 ress only as the whole mass of the 

 trade forges slowly ahead. Once out of 

 the rut the going is easier; the view is 

 clearer, motion is more free; you can 

 accomplish with ease things that seemed 



