On the Fourth Day of Christmas....

The "Twelve Days of Christmas " has always been a favorite Christmas song of mine...I remember always singing it with my sister during the holidays....but this year I thought I would give it a new twist. From now until December 22nd we will be giving something away to our customers who visit our store...no we will not be giving away French Hens, Pipers Piping or Golden Rings however there will be something different every day for twelve days....Day four...roses for you

On the Fourth Day of Christmas...

my "Real Local Florist" gave to me....

not four calling birds, but

Four Red Roses and 2013 floral calendar.....

Stop in at TK & Brown's to receive your gift.

Offer is only valid in store on 12.13.2012

Watch for tomorrow's gift

think.buy.shop.local

 

 

 

With the holidays upon us it's easy to go online to order your holiday flowers from the first online floral company that pops up.... please BEWARE, the majority of those companies are "order gatherers" or OG's as they are known in our industry and are third party order takers for the "Big Guys". I have listed some guidelines for you the consumer to keep in mind when you need to order flowers whether it be for the holidays or everyday occasions. Remember, your local professional florist has the knowledge and design talent to properly service your order.

 Keep our Local Economy Strong
For every $100 spent in locally owned independent stores, $68 returns to the community through taxes, payroll and other expenditures. If you spend that in a national chain, only $43 stays here. Spend it online and nothing comes home.Google “flowers” or “florist” plus the name of the delivery city
Ex: florist “Rocky Hill”
Check out the resulting websites, looking for a local phone number—not just a toll free number. If only the latter appears, beware; you probably landed on an order gathering call center. (Don’t assume a street address is legit; quite often, they’re commercial addresses at p.o. box locations.) Generally, the listings at the top of the page are order gatherers, scroll down a bit to the local florists.

Next, call the local phone number
When they answer, say the following (exactly as written):“I’d like to come by to pick something out in person. Where are you located, and what are your hours this week?”
If they answer you straight up, it’s a brick and mortar florist. If, however, they work toward getting you to order over the phone or online instead, you just found a call center. Next in line, please….(Side note: After they confirm they’re an actual store, it’s okay to come clean. There isn’t a brick and mortar florist in the country who won’t thank you for checking to be sure they’re real.)

Separate delivery from daisiesIf you want a $50 floral arrangement, ask for a $50 floral arrangement. If, instead, you want the $50 to cover both the arrangement and delivery, tell the florist up front. Don’t assume delivery is free–it’s not (in spite of what the online sites lead you to believe…they may advertise a $50 arrangement with free delivery, but the expense comes out of the portion you thought was allocated for flowers).
Between paychecks, gas, and insurance, florists pay a premium to offer delivery service, then price it as low as they feasibly can. Don’t haggle; they’re already cutting numbers to the bone.
Mission Accomplished
Your goal is pretty straightforward: Find pretty flowers, pay for pretty flowers, send pretty
flowers—not fund a call center or national processing service. Dialing up a phone number or two instead of trusting your keyboard will make the difference between “ooh ahh” and “oh well” on the receiving end.