Getting Ready for Christmas!!!

Well, What do you think of our Fantabulous new look? :)
It was a fun**and exhausting** Wednesday night here at the shop as we made our transformation for the Christmas Season. We had a BLAST and worked our booties off WAY past my bedtime :)
A HUGE, HUGE THANK YOU!!! to my new friend Michelle, her mom Linda, and Annette for all your help!
Michelle has such wonderful visions, and did a great job directing us... We've re-named her the "Glitter Queen!" :) Thanks Michelle!!

I also promised last week that I had some more fun give-aways for my blog readers.
It was a little bit crazy this week and I didn't have time to get them posted but I'm still planning on it. As you know, Thanksgiving is just a week away!! So I've decided that I'll give away 2 Thanksgiving Centerpieces to 2 lucky readers... Just like last week, you must leave a comment on THIS post to be eligible. I know some of you were and still are having trouble with leaving posts. I'm not exactly sure what the issues might be, but if you are having trouble, just send me an email and I'll be glad to help you.
Please leave your comment by Monday November 23, 5PM. I'll draw the winner and post them Tuesday morning. :)
Don't forget to leave me your contact information. :)

Time to put the flowers to bed and go home to see my hunny since it was past HIS bedtime when I got home last night too.

Have a great evening.
Kim

And the Winner IS......

The winner for our Fall Arrangement is Shannon Morgan, from Philomath :)
I'll be dropping that off tomorrow on my way to the Boomer Football playoff game.
(GO BOOMERS!!)

Thanks, Shannon, for visiting our blog and leaving the sweet comment. ;) We hope you can visit the shop in person, soon.

Everybody else.... Thanks for leaving the comments. Keep checking back, next week I'll have a Thanksgiving Centerpiece to help you decorate your table or use as a Hostess gift. :)

Thanks for visiting... see you soon!

Kim

Greetings Friends!!

Do you see that cute little cristmas tree on the side of my blog? Can you BELIEVE it????
43 days left until Christmas???? !!!
When I think about it, I break out in a cold sweat! WAIT WAIT.... I'm not ready.... I LOVE Christmas! But I'm never quite ready :( I always want to do sooooo much and the time just get's away from me... :(

But... there IS magic brewing here at Toledo Florist... We're gearing up for a Fantabulous Holiday Season, and we're excited!
Christmas Merchandise has been arriving and we will start to show signs of the seasons beginning next week. :) (I'm somewhat old fashioned and I like to let Thanksgiving have it's time, too :)

We also have some fun surprises and give-aways up our sleeves, so you'll want to be sure to check back often. In fact.... I think you're going to want to sign up to become a "follower" of our blog....because all throughout the season, starting next week, we will be having random give-aways..... :) We'll start with beautiful Thanksgiving Centerpieces.... And they'll be given away here... not on Facebook... I'm having issues with Facebook.... I think I'd rather Blog :)
Sooooooooo Let's start NOW... I just decided that this very minute!

I'm going to give away one of our beautiful Fall Pumpkin arrangements similar to this one:
to a lucky winner tomorrow... BUT... you MUST leave me a comment on this post by noon tomorrow, Friday November 13. I"ll then draw the name of one lucky winner and we'll have it here at the shop ready for you to pick up tomorrow afternoon. :) How's that for a Grand kickoff to the Holiday Season? :)
Good luck!
Don't forget to leave me an e-mail or a phone number to contact you.

Kim

Boss's Day is Friday, October 16th!

Happy Fall, Y-all!
Ok... kinda Cheezy, I know! but I LOVE LOVE LOVE fall!!

Well, guess what??!! We're all settled into our new shop. Lovin' it! I'll post some pictures at the end of this post to show you how cute we are :) and to entice you in! Seriously... you really NEED to come see how wonderful the shop looks and all the fantabulous new giftware we're getting in.
And of course, our BEAUTIMOUS flowers!!!
We have everything you need to help you say "THANKS BOSS"!

So, speaking of fall... did you all enjoy that blustery weather we had. I loved it! In fact.. I haven't even swept the lot in front of the shop because I think it looks "fall-y" with all that stuff covering the parking lot. ... LOL Don't you just love the changes in the weather.. the colors of the leaves, the snuggly feeling you get when the rains come? I know in another month I'll be sick to death of the rain.. but right now I think it's snuggly :)

Remember I told you we had some fun new ideas coming together? Well, I'm finally getting started. I started a Facebook page for the shop yesterday so look us up and become a fan. Between here and there, I hope to be able to post some specials, events, sales, etc.
So keep a lookout~! You never know what I might come up with. :)

Some weekly specials... Be on the lookout for those.
Free Delivery Fridays! Every Friday... Toledo ONLY. And you have to ask for it... let me or one of the girls know that you know... and we'll give you free delivery on any order in Toledo.
Our Frequent Buyers Club... pick up your card and have it punched when you make a purchase and you'll earn $ off your purchases.
These are just a few of things we're working towards... and I'm planning more :)

Have a GREAT evening everybody!

Kim

A (nother) New beginning for Toledo Florist and Gifts

Well.....It's official.....
Toledo Florist and Gifts is moving to a new location at 173 NE Hwy 2o, Next to Chef's Place and across the Hwy from PUD.
We'll begin our move starting next week, (first week of Sept.) and hope to be completely moved in and ready for business by Labor Day. I'm exhausted just thinking about it, but on the same hand, I'm also very excited as we have lots of fun and exciting surprises ahead.

WE WILL BE OPEN FOR BUSINESS DURING THE MOVE.

A couple of new things we've already implimented:

We now have a Customer Loyalty program. Stop by the shop and pick up your punch card (or call us and we'll start a file for you). You'll earn punches towards free merchandise every time you make a purchase at Toledo Florist. It's our way of saying "Thank You" to all of our Loyal Customers.

Beginning with the new school year, we will be donating 10% of anything purchased and delivered to Toledo High School to the THS Cheerleading squad.
We will extend this donation to all special events associated with THS : Homecoming flowers, Sports awards, Senior appreciation, Prom, etc. Just be sure to let us know that your purchase is for a school event and we'll make the donation. Couple this with our Customer Loyalty program and this is a GREAT deal!!!
GO BOOMERS!!

We have lots more going on at Toledo Florist..... Not all will happen right away.. but they're in the works! How 'bout a year round Crafters Mall? Crafting Supplies, New Papercrafting supplies...
What else would you like to see offered in Toledo? Let us know and we'll see what we can do to help.

Ok.. that's all for now....
Hopefully more next week as we begin our move!

Have a great day!

Kim

Back to Blogging and a Passionate topic

Wow! I can't believe it's been 6 months since I posted on here!
That is unacceptable!!, since my original intent was to post at least WEEKLY.... jeesh.

Well, time to jump back in, cuz I have lots to talk about.
Today I would like to post about something I feel really passionate about. ORDER GATHERERS.
What is an Order Gatherer? you ask....
Well, an order gatherer is basically a company that creates a name and phone number, spends a lot of money on advertising to get their name in phone books, internet searches, etc., to get consumers to call and place floral orders through them. They are not flower shops. They do not have active working florists on their premises and they don't carry flowers or deliver flowers. They are simply a phone number and there to "gather" orders and collect your money, and then pass your order along to a REAL flower shop to fill the order.
Why is this a bad thing you ask?
Well, let me explain that.
When you use an Order Gatherer -(I will refer to them as OG from here) sometimes up to 30% of the money you pay, the money you think is going towards your flower purchase, is getting eaten up in fees spread between the "middlemen". By the time your order gets to the actual Filling Florist, you have paid a service fee to the OG , sometimes upwards of $20, and they don't tell you this. The fees may be listed, but are misleading, many customers assuming that they are the "delivery fees" for thier order.

A perfect example from my shop is when an OG called me on Valentine’s Day, this year. It's a very long story, which I would be happy to share in detail if you're interested, but in a nutshell... The call came in as a person posing to be from another Flower Shop. I chose not to take the order because I was pretty sure it was an OG. When the original sender called on Monday morning to try and get his order filled.... we had a long talk. I found out that he had been charged $85 for that OG to take that order. They charged him a $20 "Rural service charge" even though the address was just in Toledo.
I told him that they had offered me $58, which included delivery. He had ordered a Dozen Yellow Roses. They were going to let me deliver a half dozen Red Roses with Stargazer Lilies.
This is a pretty typical OG story.

In this ever-changing industry... we struggle to keep our little flower shops in business. Because of the OG's and other deceptive practices, Consumers have come to believe that flowers are a rip off... and in cases like that above story, they are! But most genuine Florist Shops strive to create beautiful arrangements at affordable prices for their customers. Flowers portray such a beautiful message for so many different occasions. They truly are a wonderful gift.
Unfortunately, the OG's and other deceptive practices have found a way, they feel, to CASH IN, on what they see as easy money, deceiving the customers and giving the Floral Industry a bad name.

So now that you know.. do yourself a favor- Skip the middlemen and the deceptive practices and ALWAYS ALWAYS use your LOCAL Florist. Even using well known names like Teleflora, FTD, 1800 flowers, etc... isn't recommended by me because ALL of the OG's belong to those wire services. They'll take your order and then send it through the wire service to be filled by a real florist... skimming their fees off the top, first. It's really sad how it all takes place.
So that's my story.. hope you all feel a little more informed :)

Spreading sunshine, one stem at a time..... :) Kim

Valentines Day!!

Well, here we are: Christmas already behind us (**Sigh**, I am always sad to see the season end) and as a Florist I am now thinking ahead to Valentines Day! YIKES!!

I've been thinking about this post for a while and think that this is finally the time to educate my readers on a few topics that often come up this time of year. Online ordering and "Order Gatherers" "Grocery Stores" and the one question I hear so often.... "Why are Roses so expensive on Valentines Day?" You really NEED to read this post and pass it along to your friends and family. Please.

I was reading one of my favorite blogs the other day and was so heartsick to read her post about how she thought Florists just jacked the prices up on Valentines Day. :( And I realized that there are so many people with this same misconception... so I thought now would be a good time to shed some light on the subject.

You see, we really don't "Jack" our prices up just because we think people are going to spend the money. We have to raise our prices because "OUR" purchase prices are raised. It's all about Supply and Demand. I'll Try and sum it up in simple terms. (You all know how good I am about making a long story short) Bwhahahahahah!!! but I'll give it my best.

It starts at the very tip top of the chain: The Growers. Growers produce a fairly consistent supply of roses throughout most of the year, yet for one single holiday, the demand for Roses increases by a HUGE amount. Since Roses cannot be stored for long periods of time, the growers must hire out tons of seasonal workers to help fill this demand. This costs money.
They also have the increased cost of growing conditions... those roses must be grown in greenhouses... Remember... we're in the dead of winter, here!! I read that it takes 50-70 days to grow these roses in the winter time in a greenhouse... and remember... they HAVE to be ready at just the right time. Their cost of electricity for those greenhouses in the dead of winter must be immense! The cost of production is much much higher than it is the rest of the year and that cost is passed along down the chain to the Wholesale Supplier.

Now, this wholesale supplier must try to guess what the demand from their retail florists will be and purchase MASSIVE quantities of roses from the grower in order to meet the needs of the florists. If they over-buy.... they're stuck with it! What a crap shoot, huh... and they, of course, have to make a profit to survive... so that cost is then passed along to us, the Florists.
Now... We Florists have to guess what our local market is going to demand for this ONE HOLIDAY. We make a (hopefully) educated guess on what our customers will want this year based on day of the week the holiday falls on, the economy, etc. and we have to BUY all these Roses ahead of time. Usually about Mid January.. that's right.. we have to guess what you'll need and BUY them.. Hoping we didn't calculate wrong and that you are going to buy what we've purchased. YIKES!!! Trust me.. it's SCARY!

OK, now the buying is done... and we have to prepare to fill literally HUNDREDS of orders in a matter of a few days. So guess what that means? Yep... More seasonal workers. The flowers are typically delivered about 5 days before the big day... boxes and boxes and boxes of flowers. It's amazing! They must be cleaned and processes and loved so that they will be perfect for your big day. In my little shop alone, I will generally hire at least 3 extra people for the week of Valentines Day(besides my 2 regular employees) and 6 extra delivery drivers for the 13th and 14th. We will work from sun up til sun down for 3 or 4 days, making sure that every order is filled lovingly so that you can surprise your sweetie, your kiddo, your mama, your best friend, anyone who you might want to show a little love on this special day :) And always with a smile!

All that extra time and help costs... yep, you guessed it! More Money!
So you see... it's not a matter of just getting greedy and "jacking up the prices" for the Big Day.
It's a LOT of work from a LOT of people and it costs a LOT of money to supply all of those flowers for this special day... and we do it because we love it.. because there is NOTHING sweeter than walking into a room and, quite literally, delivering LOVE to someone on Valentines Day. :) over and over and over and over and over and over and....... well you get the picture.

Sooooooo I hope you all have a little bit better understanding now.
I think that's enough reading for tonight and I still have to get that flower order in tonight! so I'll post more in the next couple of days about the "other" issues..

Night Night!!!

Kim