Lincolnway Flower Shop Intro (LWFS)

Status
Not open for further replies.
L

LWFS

New Member
Sep 18, 2008
9
6
3
York
State / Prov
PA
Hello all:
Just a quick intro: My wife and I (and 2 partners) purchased our shop back in Feb 2008 - it has been in business since 1955 in York, PA - we are VERY excited about our new venture, but have much to learn. We have 13 employees - 6 designers (1 is full time), and we expect to do about $475k in sales this year.

I have a full time job in economic development, but run to the shop every evening to run the numbers for the day, and keep tabs on the profits and losses. So far, so good.

My wife comes from a 12 year history as a wholesaler, and I used to help out part time there as well, so we have good experience with teh flowers and product. However, need guidance on wire services and POS systems!!!

looking forward to learning from you all!

Thanks,
Blanda
 
  • Like
Reactions: 6 people
sorry, add'l info:
My wife has had formal training when she worked for a large chain sveeral years ago
We lease our retail space on a busy road, have one small greenhouse (800 sf) for dish gardens and a large GH (3000 sf) that we use for blooming plants and also for poinsettias
we can be found at www.lincolnwayflowershop.com
We are a TF member, and recently were talked in to bloomnet (but havent started yet)
we have 3 delivery vans, and are exploring starting a landscaping division.
One of our biggest challenges is convincing the old employees (and former owner) that they need to include a design charge in their arrangements and that it is OK to try to upsell the customers at times.
 
more...

sorry, add'l info:
My wife has had formal training when she worked for a large chain sveeral years ago
We lease our retail space on a busy road, have one small greenhouse (800 sf) for dish gardens and a large GH (3000 sf) that we use for blooming plants and also for poinsettias
we can be found at www.lincolnwayflowershop.com
We are a TF member, and recently were talked in to bloomnet (but havent started yet)
we have 3 delivery vans, and are exploring starting a landscaping division.
One of our biggest challenges is convincing the old employees (and former owner) that they need to include a design charge in their arrangements and that it is OK to try to upsell the customers at times.
 
That is quite a resume for you both. :)

Welcome to the community. It's a wonderful resource for information and fun.

V
 
Welcome LWFS! This is a great place to be.
 
Welcome aboard! You may find that your employees would be well served by a training session from Tim Huckabee. The staff here are all long term in the business and they all took some great lessons from his training. It's really fun actually and even the sceptics will be on board!
Designers not charging labour???? Ask them how they think they get paid! lol
 
Suggestion on POS system

Welcome aboard
You will find florists very willing to share and help. That's good for you and bad for your competition. But if your local competition is not on FC and is not asking questions about what's going on, that's good for you.

You need to know as much about your accounting as you need to know about your products/services. So give a lot of attention to that.

Don't waist your time asking other florists what they feel is the best POS system. WHY? Because they do not know what other systems offer. I have been with our vendor of software/hardware for 13 years next month. They have been in the business of Florist Software for well over 20 years, in fact probably the oldest in the industry.

But I do not know what the new guys on the block offer. But I do put a lot of trust in someone that has been around over 20 years and is still owned by the original owners.

Call me if you wish to ask questions about the system we use. I will not offer any comments on other systems because I have never felt a need to walk away from what I have [assuming I could afford to do that]

I am Tom Carlson and can be reached at 608-755-7700 or [email protected]

Good Luck, and you will need some of that.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top Bottom
Back