Recently in Real Florist Blog Category
An article today from the Star-Ledger details Tom Meola's Chapter 7 filings in Newark NJ. His two companies, TTP, Inc. (the retailer operation under the name Flowers With Gifted Elegance) and Preferred Florist Network (the wire service operation) have long been a source of complaints from both local florists and consumers.
Through a third company, Lower Forty Gardens, Meola purchased local phone numbers and used local city names in the listings of his fictional 'flower shops' across the US. Calls to the numbers were forwarded to his Randolph NJ-based call center.
Reporter Greg Saitz of the Star-Ledger sums up the issue well:
..some florists and consumers complained Meola's business model amounted to deception because people who called his numbers likely believed they were dealing with a local business. In response, 19 states, including New Jersey, passed laws that prohibit misrepresenting one's geographic location, according to the Society of American Florists, a trade group.
In addition, several state attorneys general have investigated or are investigating Meola's practices. He agreed to pay Virginia officials $10,000 in 2005 to settle and $50,000 to Delaware authorities in 2002. He also agreed not to publish phone listings creating the false impression it was for a Delaware business.
Among creditors are hundreds of local florists owed for Spring and Mother's Day orders they filled and delivered through the Preferred Florist Network.
It's unclear as to the status of Lower Forty Gardens and the future for Meola's phony local listings.
Unfortunately, Flowers With Gifted Elegance isn't the only call center operation to use remote call forwarding and local-sounding florist names, but they were the first and largest.
As more states enact legislation (North Carolina just passed a bill and California awaits a final reading and vote in the Senate) real local florists hope this business model will become a thing of the past.
Real florists have taken a verbal beating from paid radio personalities telling listeners that our flowers are inferior and urging shoppers to purchase the cheap blooms from companies like ProFlowers.com. Last week we discussed how flowers from a box take the professional presentation and the romance out of receiving Valentine's Day flowers, especially at the office.
It's not just florists that think the 'fresh from the box' experience is unromantic and disappointing and projects 'when you care enough to spend the very least'.
At that time, none of us could have anticipated the extreme cold across much of the US so it's time to talk about the effect of sub-freezing temperatures on Valentine's Day roses and compare what local florists do vs the boxes shipped by ProFlowers, Hallmark, FTD and 1-800-Flowers.
Professional Local Florists
- Deliver flowers in water so the blooms don't dehydrate.
- Wrap and even double wrap your entire arrangement to protect it from being frozen.
- Protect your arrangements in their stores until just the moment they are placed into heated trucks for delivery.
- Hand deliver your flowers to your office or home.
- Never leave your roses or other flowers to freeze on the doorstep if no one's there.
Boxes shipped from ProFlowers, Hallmark, FTD and 1-800-Flowers
- May be shipped with little or no water to sustain the flowers
- Pass from warehouses/distribution centers to trucks to FedEx or UPS planes to airport hangars to more trucks to another set of distribution centers and finally into unheated delivery vans.
- Can and will be left at front doors, on doorsteps and porches if no one is home or the office is closed. It's part of box shipper agreements negotiated with overnight delivery companies to cut corners and keep prices as cheap as possible.
Watch this video of unboxing ProFlowers.com frozen roses that had been left on a porch for a couple hours in freezing temperatures. They're not exactly fresh from the fields. And it's not just ProFlowers roses getting frozen during delivery - WTAE Channel4 of Pittsburgh had similar damaged flower results with a box from Hallmark.
So to avoid getting frozen flowers and a chilly response from your Valentine, remember to order from a real Pro Florist, your local full-service flower shop, that won't sacrifice quality, presentation power and service when delivering your love.
In our first post featuring signature Valentine's Day arrangements from local florists, we highlighted roses and tropical flowers. This collection will showcase some of the seasonal varieties created especially for the holiday.
Coby Neal - The Flower Studio of Austin, TX is featuring a stunning high style assortment of orchids, red roses, calla lilies, oriental Sumatra lilies and woven foliages. As Coby says, it's for "when a dozen roses simply isn't enough."
The Flower Place of Fountain Valley, CA design team is showcasing a romantic gathering vase teeming with lilies, protea, ginger, anthurium bells of Ireland and kale that gives a soft, feminine flair to these long-lasting exotics. Finished with soft sage ribbon, this vase is sure to please that special someone.
Robertson's of Philadelphia, PA offers this exquisitely vibrant and abundant assortment of ranunculus, gerberas, tulips and roses.
Created in a pave' style, this California Dreams signature floral gift arrives in a chic cylinder vase.
Felicity Flowers of Felicity, OH says of their lush, romantic, compact-style vase arrangement, "In a sea of the standard red and pink these colors scream chic and hip. It's tropical mixed with garden, it's eclectic and it's us." Featuring cymbidium orchids, hydranges and tulips, this Euro-style design is truly a savory alternative to traditional roses.
If you live near one of these florists, give them a call. If not, just remember to call your local florist to get the finest, most thoughtful full-service grower-fresh flowers for Valentine's Day.
Across the US and Canada, local florists are setting the stage to create unique designs that touch the hearts of millions of Valentines. Signature arrangements, crafted with local customers in mind, are original to each individual shop and show an innovative, clever and diverse range of styles and colors.
We asked professional designers from FlowerChat to share some of their featured offerings and give our readers a taste of 'beyond the cookie cutter' for the holiday.
Romantic Roses
Monarch Florist of Mission Viejo, CA is featuring a contemporary twist on a classic two dozen rose arrangement, embellished with orchids, curly willow and hanging amaranthus.
Their design was recently featured in Orange Couty Home Magazine.
Smith's Flowers of Midland, MI is offering a signature classic topiary of red roses designed in a ruby cache pot and accented with ribbon and hearts. Trimmed with a ballerina-style lacing, this gift is sure to please.
Tantilizing Tropicals
Everyday Flowers of Tustin, CA will be creating a dazzling assortment of exotics and tropicals that includes ginger, heliconia, orchids, lilies and accents of roses for romance. Perfect for your extraodinary sweetheart.
Chez Bloom of Saint Louis Park-Minneapolis, MN has designed a casual chic metro tropical featuring ginger, birds of paradise and exotic foliages in a sleek ceramic jardiniere - making it a perfect choice for him or her.
Avante Gardens - florals unique of Anaheim, CA will be delivering the Your My Good Fortune Valentine, an Asian-inspired tropical design featuring anthuriums, orchids and roses and including a special Valentine fortune cookie in a heart-covered Chinese take-out box.
Look for Part 2 of this article, which will focus on stunning romantic mixes of your Valentine Day's holiday favorites.
Hello Yellow, are you listening?
One can only wonder if companies like Yellowpages.com, Yellowbook.com and Superpages.com could stand to learn something from the likes of Yahoo! who seems to recently realized they would be better off if they asked for, and received, assistance with maintaining local listings to offer much better, more relevant search results.
Consumers are deluged with inaccurate search results daily, and it seems that the retail floral industry is one of the worst, most inaccurate on the internet. A recent search for a local florist on YellowPages.com resulted in 43 "florists" in a city that really has only 7. 43? No wonder consumers, and florists too, are confused. Notice too, that the results mostly are what today are refered to as "Order Gatherers"; non-florists that get between consumers and local florists - often removing 30-40% of the order total.
This florist thinks that the so called Yellow Pages could benefit from more local advertisers over the useless listings of bulk rate national order gatherers that offer little to no value to the consumer. So far, Superpages.com gets my vote as being closer to accurate, but over time, they will all have to clean up their acts if they want to remain viable and gain local advertisers.
Hello Yellow...are you listening?
