March 20, 1913, 



The Florists^ Review 



I THE RETAIL -^^^ | 



FLORIST I 



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A MT. CLEMENS WEDDING. 



The accompanying illustration shows 

 a wedding supper decoration done re- 

 . ently at Mount Clemens, Mich., by 

 August Von Boeselager, of that city. 

 The table was seventy-five feet long and 

 thirty-two feet wide. In the center was 

 ;i pool of water 9 x 16, having in its 

 center a pretty fountain. A strip of 

 water five inches wide bordered the 

 whole table and in this were arranged 

 Winsor carnations and Paper White nar- 

 cissi. Twenty-five bags of natural moss 

 were used on the table, as well as 150 

 Lorraine begonias and 2,000 Komans, the 

 begonias being supplied by Eobert 

 Craig Co., Philadelphia; twenty-five 

 cases of smilax and 300 Christmas trees 

 also were used in the decoration. In 

 the center of the room was suspended a 

 large bell and around this were a num- 

 ber of small bells, each of which repre- 

 sented a month in the year. At mid- 

 night the bells rang. Sleigh bells under 

 the table also rang, while a large elec- 

 tric sign changed from 1912 to 1913, as 

 it was a New Year's eve wedding. The 

 bells and lights, 5,000 extra ones being 

 used, were all controlled by one man. 



H. S. . 



THE TBEND OF THE TBADE. 



Problems of Distribution. 



There are those of the more thought- 

 ful of the men observing the progress 

 of events in the flower business who 

 believe that the greater enterprise has 

 of late been manifested among the pro- 

 ducers rather than among the dis- 

 tributors — in other words, that the 

 growers have outstripped the retailers. 

 If the condition is as these persons be- 

 lieve it to be, some interesting develop- 

 ments are sure to ensue. 



If it be true that the problem has 

 become one of distribution instead of 

 production, it follows that the retailers 

 will be called on to take prompt action; 

 that if, as a body, they do not keep up 

 with the times, then some close-think- 

 ing, far-seeing, daring members of the 

 retail branch will come out in front 

 with new ways of merchandising the 

 material at hand — either that or the re- 

 tailing of flowers will pass into other 

 hands. It will be another case of the 

 survival of the fittest. If the stock is 

 here it must be sold. How and by 

 whom? 



Mass Immobile. 



The nature of the retail trade as it 

 has been conducted has made it difficult 

 to change as conditions change. It is 

 not easy to teach old dogs new tricks, 

 and it is even less easy, after a man 

 has made at least a living in a certain 

 way for many years, to turn him to a 

 course almost the opposite of the one 

 pursued so long. It would be difficult 

 to chcange if we were so located that 

 changing would do any good, but the 

 majority of retail- floTWIts are outside 



the busy downtown centers and in the 

 quiet backwater of business life. They 

 don't know how to meet the competi- 

 tion of the man, possibly not himself a 

 florist, who opens a flower store on the 

 main street and applies department 

 store methods to its management. 



For the older florists who have fol- 

 lowed the established methods, dealing 

 principally with regular customers, giv- 

 ing the best service that was within 

 their ability, charging fair fixed prices 

 the season through, doing about so 

 much business all the time, the in- 

 creased production of cut flowers, when 

 it began to be apparent a few years 

 ago, meant little more than the easier 

 filling of orders. . Later it meant a lit- 

 tle lower cost price and a little better 

 profit. It did not mean much increase 

 in volume of sales. 



Then the price cutter came. 



But the mass of the trade was im- 

 mobile; it could not easily adapt itself 

 to the new conditions. A few, it is 

 true, have gone out after a big volume 

 of sales at prices that made the profit 

 depend as much on the buying as on 

 the selling. In the big cities the de- 

 partment stores have either gone into 

 the flower business or leased space for 

 outsiders to run flower departments. 



The Disparity in Prices. 



At first the big buyers were given an 

 indifferent reception. Some thought 

 them an aid, others a menace. Then as 

 production continued to increase they 



But he uses only a small part of the 

 stock that must find an outlet. So the 

 big buyer steps in. He stands ready to 

 take what most needs a market. Today 

 he will have a rose sale; tomorrow, or- 

 chids; next day, violets; Monday, carna- 

 tions; it is all the same to him. He 

 must have a full line, but he works 

 principally with the flowers that are 

 most plentiful. 



Of course the buyer who isn't partic- 

 ular what he buys, and will take the 

 lot, gets a better price than the man 

 who wants just certain varieties, grades 

 and quantities. And the increasing pro- 

 portion of the production that is being 

 sold to the department store class of 

 retailers, or to those who are trying 

 to compete with them, is steadily pull- 

 ing down the average returns to the 

 growers. The only saving clause is 

 that it is only in a bad glut indeed 

 that much stock goes to waste. 



Will Wholesalers Betoil? 



Much as the retailers are disturbed 

 by the changing conditions, the whole- 

 salers are in many instances still more 

 discontented. Some of the growers and 

 wholesalers feel that the retailers have 

 not been sufficiently alert to broaden 

 the outlet for flowers; they feel that 

 the retailers have held prices up in the 

 face of the rising tide of production 

 and thereby added to their individual 

 profits for the moment at the expense 

 of the whole industry. It probably is 

 not true that the retail florist has been 

 enjoying a better margin of profit, all 

 things considered, thdn has his neigh- 

 bor, the butcher, grocer or dry goods 

 man, but he may not have seen just 

 how to increase his sales in just the 

 way the grower would have liked. 



At any rate, some growers and whole- 

 salers think it may shortly be up to 

 them to deal direct with the consumer. 



Already several experiments are in 

 progress in various parts of the country. 

 This does not refer to those wholesalers 

 who gradually added to their retail 



Wedding Supper Decoration by A. Von Boeselager, Mt. Clemens, Mich. 



came to be an important factor. But 

 all is not well. 



The retailer who follows the old 

 method, as nearly all still do, and who 

 buy« only selected stock, the kind his 

 orders call for, not the kind the whole- 

 saler wants to sell, pays a fair price. 



sales until, when they found they could 

 not well handle both, they preferred to 

 let the wholesale end take second place 

 rather than relinquish their retail cus- 

 tomers. But it refers to those • who,^ 

 after relying for years on a wholesale 

 outlet, have opened retail stores for the* 



