An; 11. ir., lOOll. 



The Weekly Florists^ Review* 



(^^.'*^^'<^.'i^■'<^ ..^•. ■■'■<•. ■•<<•■ .■'<<^rq-.<<-r^.-^»)-fer»>-^ 



THE RETAIL 



FLORIST 



,<»^>.';#J^.<;<^.<»^.<#^/'fe^r»)''fef»)'fe^r»>'v-r»)'s?ir»b"<-»>'U'»>'v^ 



■-»^V-■-»>5^ 



THE HAT-HAMPER. 



"The bee tli.it gotrt the -honey doesn't 

 liiiny nromul the hive," nor' dofts the- re- 

 tail llorist who hns ;il\v:iys soiiiethiiii,^ new 

 to show his ciistoinevs yet his novelties 

 by sitlini; down and waritiUg, like Mieaw- 

 b'ei'. l"i' "something to turn up." 



How well the wide awake florist can 

 turn current events to account is shown 

 by the arconipnnying illustration, made 

 tium a photograph of an Kaster hut- 

 iiaiiipiT, originated by Ceorge Wienlioe- 

 ber, of th(^ Fleischnuin Floral <'u.. Ciii- 

 cago. 'I'll is has been previously de 

 scribed, but not hitherto illustrated. Mi'. 

 Wienhoeber's attention was attracted by 

 the great amount of comment created by 

 llie current styles in women's hats. !So 

 |iv()ii«)unc'd arc the shapes this season 

 that ainujst every morning paper has a 

 licsli cartiHiu (in the "inverted waste- 

 haskil'-. " ■ and Ml'. WimilHicbcr coiH'eived 

 ihc idea of using ilir milliner's 

 "shapes'" in the maiuifacl ntr of ham- 

 pers t'ur forsagc biiu(|U('ts nt' \i(dets or 

 ;iichid<. He sim])ly \vent to a nnllinery 

 \\liiil<'s;de house and bought a lot of the 

 Miaw shapes in various colors. Taking 

 lluse 1o his Inix-inaker, he had a paste- 

 lioar<l bottom sewed across the opening 

 in the hat. the crown removed and lunged 

 till' a eo\e:. a box set in the hat, and it 

 was re;;dy I'or the decorator. The hats 

 \\ere trimmi^d \ariously. according to the 

 price ti' lie asked and according to the 

 color. They \vere o1' the right siz(> to 

 hold a corsage of -Oi) violets and when 

 .1 window of them, no two alike, was 

 -liouu. they made an instantaiuMus hit. 



Of course, a novelty like this, stdling 

 for from .fS to $1"), takes only win're a 

 high (lass trade is hiindled, as at Fleisch- 

 nian's sidic in the Railway Kxchaiigt" 

 Iniilding. and is good only for a short 

 time, liut during the period that it re- 

 mains e\clusi\-e, it is w(dl worth tln^ 

 trouble it takes to get it. The success 

 of the hat n()\elty depended ii])on cur 

 lent fashi(itis, and when this styl(> iias 

 [passed on. the hat-hampers also ]0'obaiil\- 

 will t'.-iil of success, but b\' that iinu' tln^ 

 nii\(li. will |ia\e worn idf. anyway, ami 

 Ml. Wieidioeber will haxc his eyes ojieii. 

 on the |(iok(uit for a fresh insidrati(ui. 



THE EASTER BUSINESS. 



I^.i'-ter has for years be(^n the big day 

 "ilh tin iit.ail tlorists. This year it was 

 no i\( cj.! iiiii to the rule. K\ erv j:etailer 



,\erv_retaiier 

 ry had ;i big 



lljidueh'iul- the whide c(nndr' 

 tiiHJe. ill iijo^l cases .-IS lar'ee as the 

 help ciuld handle in so short ;i time. It 

 se(Mn>- that eveiw ye.ar the ludiday l)usi- 

 ness, both at Easter and at Christmas 

 !ind (Either times, must ])o handled in 

 shorter and shorter time. Years ago the 

 customers ]ilace(l their orders several days 

 in advance, but now it all cfunes at the 

 Inst nunnte. It adds greatly to the. strain 

 'if doing business, exhausting nervous 

 eiieigy ami Subtracting from the profits. 

 It wduld be in order for ndailers to make 

 •■I united efl'ort to educate the public to- 

 w.ird oarli(U' buying. Something can cer- 



tainly be done in this direction if e\('ry 

 body tries and keeps at it. 



it litis become the reguhir thing to vo- 

 port tin increased Easter business with 

 blooming plants. Year after year the 

 sales of these incretise. The lily is the 

 leader, and probably tilways will be, but 

 the lily forms only a small part of the 

 blooming plants that are sold. The 

 azalea was a particuhirly good seller this 

 year. The pink rambler roses are better 

 Easter ])hints than the red ones. A good 

 many retaileivs founil it does not jiay to 

 overbuy on plants. Plants may not be 

 :is ])erishable as cut flowers, but they still 

 cost money and if not sold out jiretty 

 clean there is a loss of profits. 



The supplies of cut flowers were hirge 

 this Kaster and in genertil the stock was 

 of splendid quality. Most of the retail- 

 ers did a big business with cut flowers, 

 in spite of devoting :\ large shan; of their 

 eneigy to plants. In the larger and me- 



llower business :it such times. The large 

 supply this Etuster favored the oi)erations 

 of the (juantity merchants. Prices gener- 

 ally were at a reasonable l(!\cl. 



it is interesting to note the adxaiiee 

 made in the consumption of pot covers 

 ■and other plant emli(dlisliments. Not all 

 the stores can sell the fancy hampers and 

 baskets of jilants, and a good many 

 stores in the smaller cities (]uite recently 

 thought their trade did not ctire for even 

 crepe ptiper pot covers, but as soon as 

 (jiie llorist in a town st.'irted decking out 

 his pltints, even in the most simple man- 

 ner, all the others found it necessary to 

 follow suit. The iucretise in the use of 

 jdant decorations recently has iieen more 

 rtipid thtui the increase in the sali's of 

 ])lanls themselves. 



On the whole, it was a good I'^aster for 

 everyone, but there |>robably is no one 

 who would not be glad to see a good 

 month's run of regular busim^s and <'ut 

 out the holiday push. 



NEED SMALL BLOOMING PLANTS. 



■'What there is most need of, in the 

 plant line, is small stock that can ije 

 used in the gre.at variety at' small dishes 

 now avaihible, ;ind that can be sold at 

 moderate prices." 



The S[-e;iker was one of the women 

 who know the flower business, and who 

 deals with the liest (dass of trade in 

 ( 'hicaij'o. 



Fleischman's Hat-Hamper. 



dium sized cities it is noticeable that the 

 i-egular flower stores push phints at holi- 

 days, but the Greeks do not luindle many 

 ])lants and by devoting their energies to* 

 i)uying and selling cut* flowers in large 

 (piantities, are gradually getting to have 

 :i larger and larger share of the cut 



"We find only ti limite(l number of 

 people to buy the high-priced plant ar- 

 rangements, but there are plenty to buy 

 the moderat(> [iriccil ones. Even the best 

 of customers limit their purclias(>3 of 

 large jdants, but where soiliething at 

 from ^\.r}i) to .t2 or ^^f}') is offered 



