What's In A Name?

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NavyBrat

NavyBrat

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Aug 27, 2005
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I was sending an order out today and came across this name for a flower shop: "Sneaky Arrangements"....just couldn't send them the order and feel good about it! Would you? When I opened my shop in 1978, I was definetly a "hippie" (still have a good bit of "hippie" in me at 51) and decided to name the shop "Down To Earth." I think the best advice I ever received was from another florist who urged me to reconsider the shop name and go with my good old family name "Richardson's." She pointed out to me that customers who were looking for a florist to purchase flowers for a family funeral would not be comfortable with a shop named "Down To Earth." (Heavy symbolism though, heh?) Everything for the shop was printed and ready to go with the name "Down To Earth," but it was all trashed and renamed "Richardson's Flowers." To this day, whenever I send a wire out I almost always pick a florist with a wholesome family name.
Any good stories on how your shop was named?
 
I wanted to name my shop Natural Elegance, but opted to name it for the two communities which we most often serve. These communities are not incorporated, but almost everyone who lives there names them when asked, where do you live. Seldom do we name the town of our mailing address. Neither of these communities has its own zip code. Many customers tell us, "When I saw your name, I knew you had to be out there in that area." Our name, Powdersville Wren Florist, may seem unimaginative to many, but it has brought us many orders. Cha-ching!
 
Dianne, it is funny how names attract or put us off. There is a shop I have used in Ottawa for as long as I have been in the floral industry... I love their name and I have never been disappointed; Wild Willy's. It always conjures up images for me and makes me smile. I don't know if it's still under original ownership, but as I said above, they have never disappointed my customers.

By the same token, if a name is too cutesy, I avoid them... can't explain why really, I just do.

V
 
Especially For You

came off of a greeting card my wife picked up.

It has taken a long time to get the name recognition to build business. We get people that just can't remember our name. They rename us regulaly, "Just for You", "Special for You", "Especially Yours", etc.

If we had it to do over, we would do a simple one word name, but not our last name "Yenulis".
 
There use to be a shop in Los Angeles called "The Flowers that Bloom in the Spring Tra-La" and a long-time Anaheim store is still call "Flowers and Junque". Both evoke..... something.

Found a hilarious site called Shop Horror that deals with a book about names of British storefront retailers. About the author:
Guy is an expert on all aspects of High Street Britain's funny shop names. From truly awful, cringe-inducing howlers to genuinely inventive and original shop fronts, he has researched, found and photographed them all. He has also interviewed the shopkeepers in a bid to find the reasoning or madness behind these amusing store fronts.
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The gallery captures the flavor of some of those funny, punny names. (Note that Austin Flowers is probably included based on the movie title play-on-words.) Wanna bet the book exposure helped increase business for all of them?
 
CHR said:
Wanna bet the book exposure helped increase business for all of them?
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Cathy-I loved the site! Nothing better than the free press that book is generating for the businesses listed!

A few more shop names in the good old USA that I adore:

Floral & Hardy
Alice In Flowerland

Still can't beat Sneaky Arrangements!
 
Our shop name was established by the previous owners in honor of their grandparents family floral business.

While it is a verrry common name, for florists and other businesses (there's a tea room/cafe 20 minutes south of here), we hear frequently from people who acquire our contact information from 411 operators, phone books, web listings etc - "oh, that sounds like a nice place". It gives them that romanticized flower shop image (you know the one, where we're all out in-the-meadow-with-our-long-flowing-white-dress-and-a-huge-straw-sunbonnet-collecting-wildflowers-in-our-hand-woven- basket-with-the-sun-blowing-through-our-hair-and-butterflies-flitting-all-around-us:flowers: ). Fine by me! It was suggested to me to add my name to the shop name, but I kind of prefer the anomynity instead.

I came originally from a shop with the town name, and thought that was the best way, but I see both sides now - some people will pick a more "imaginative" name, and some will choose a more reliable sounding name.

tracy
 
Names on Vehicles

The next time you look at your delivery vehicles, look at them through your customers' eyes. Ask yourself, "Does this image make me want to purchase from that store?" "That store" is your store. If you answered no, you should change the appearance of your fleet. Furthermore, wash the vehicles weekly if not more. Your vehicles should reflect the same image that your product does.

There are several considerations to decide on when designing your logo and lettering on the vehicle. Make sure customers will be able to remember and recognize your company name. Anyone who remembers the name can easily research contact information if a telephone number was missed. However, the telephone number should be easily visible followed by your web address.
 
Here are a couple observations. I have instructed my employees to use family named flower shops or city named flower shops before the more creatively named flower shops. Why? Becuase chances are those are the shops that have been in business longer.

If I were to open a new shop, I would name the flower shop after the city it is located. The reason, is based on internet searches.

If you were wanting to find a florist in Carlyle Illinois, how would you Search for it in the internet?

Or if you were to call the telephone operator, how would the operator search for a flower shop telephone number in a particular town?

I maybe off base with this line of reasoning and if I am please correct me.

Also, getting back to naming your flower shop after your name, have you ever noticed that most car dealerships are named after the owner of the business?

I suspect that the car industry has done some pretty extensive marketing research and have determined that if a person is willing to put his/her name up on the sign out front of the business, they will stand behind their product when the car needs servicing.

That is an observation based on speculation, but it seems reasonable.

Joe
 
Wow, we named ours and stayed as far away from the city name as possible because it was so limiting. Someone else came along, named theirs after the city and does the most incredible lousey work that I have ever seen and is an OG to boot...so lesson here is...you can't always tell a Real Florist from an OG based on being named after the city. Maybe in the good ole days but now I think things have changed too much.
Sher
 
Joe Mioux said:
Or if you were to call the telephone operator, how would the operator search for a flower shop telephone number in a particular town?
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We routinely ask new customers how they found our name - when they respond 411 operator, they tell us they were given two names for florists in our town, so I don't think operators only give out town named businesses anymore. That was how Tom Meola got such a foothold 10 years ago, by booking those town names in the white pages, but I believe the phone company has changed their search procedures.

Joe Mioux said:
I suspect that the car industry has done some pretty extensive marketing research and have determined that if a person is willing to put his/her name up on the sign out front of the business, they will stand behind their product when the car needs servicing.
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I have never actually seen a car dealership where the owner was present on a regular basis, at least not in NJ. That is, with the exception of ex-football and sports "celebrities" who use their names for their businesses.

Also, I agree with Sher, that not all town or family named businesses are the most reliable, but it is easy to fall into that old assumption. I think 30 years ago, owners standing by their product, and pride in service etc etc, working with a family name was the way to go (hence, Navy Brat's sound decision posted above). But business is different today, people come and go so easily, family names are not recognized anymore as families also come and go easily.

I do agree that when people are looking for a business, they will search online for "Town" Florist, "Town" Motel, "Town" Funeral Home and see what comes up for the "Town" searched, so for search purposes it may be more beneficial to be the "town" florist, or have the town in your creative name.

Happy Easter Day! We need a bunny smiley please :)
 
Joe Mioux said:
I maybe off base with this line of reasoning and if I am please correct me.


That is an observation based on speculation, but it seems reasonable.

Joe
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Tracy and Sher; Thank you for the replies and that is why I typed the above to sentences in my original post.

I like hearing and learning others' reasons for doing things certain ways.

I do have a question both of you.

If you had to guess which flower shop was the longer established shop, would you choose one named after a city or family name or a more flashy, catchy, frilly, etc sounding named flower shop?

My experience is that I don't recall any "flowery" sounding florist older than ones that were established in the '70's at the earliest.

Joe
 
Actually I use Advantage so I am able to mark shops as "preferred" or "do not use" based on experience. If there is no one in that city I actually take the time to look at their info rather than their name and yes I do use many older established shops but rarely look at the "name".Of course if they do not supply any info they are never used...
As far as being a consumer...when I use a phone book...rare..if the ad is so big I figure they have enough money to place a big ad...they surely do not need my money to help pay for it. I think that goes back to my rebellion years. I am very much for the little guy.....and after the Meola adventure, I think many shops got hurt with the "city" naming thing plus in our area it would be too limiting. On one street corner alone, we have three cities that merge...
Well it's off to hide eggs...the kids better find them all or we will be stinky next week!
 
My two cents worth is that you never know who named the florist and it is impossible to know what kind of quality and service is given just by the name. It would always be just a good guess and we would all be guessing according to our own subjective criteria we use for guessing anything.

We have had our shop for 26 years come June 1st and it was already named The Daisy Petal. We just left it with that name. Over the years I have learned to add Florist to it whenever I print anything as it is not implicative enough without it.

I am like Sher in the sense that I read shops' info. Their name is just their name and when the info seems the same I still use other criteria to decide. I even do a google map to see how far they are from the delivery address many times. Never make the assumption that an older shop is better. It may seem reasonable to assume that but just because they are older does not mean it is the same owner or that the current owner is doing well or has high standards.

I can't say I have never been influenced by a name because there is a shop in my sister's city with a really cool name that I really loved and so when I send her flowers I always used them. Then when we finally went up to her place I saw the shop I use and she gave me the lowdown on all the florists around her as she is a flower buyer (of course) I will not use them ever again. She was too gracious to tell me, but knew I would eventually see for myself. So I am trying not to decide by a name.

I find cities named after the city to be the last ones I use but did not realize I did this until reading this thread. Reason being that it is boring, unimaginative in an artistice and creative business. I guess I related it to that. I will try to NOT do that anymore too.

Exceptionally good thread!!! Thanks!
 
Joe,
I suppose I would probably assume that a flower shop named for the town would be the older of the shops, but I have learned from that assumption. I have learned that just because a shop has been around forever, does not always mean they are reliable, or reputable. Sometimes the oldies just have enough capital to squeak by the lean times. I know of several shops in my area that are long established and named for the town, but other shops designs far exceed those oldies. Maybe it's because I'm a newbie in business, but sometimes I feel like the newbies have something to prove to their customers, so they go the extra mile. Sometimes not. It's a guessing game really.

I do read the shop info for our wire-outs as well, and am more inclined to send my orders to someone who speaks of customer service, regardless of their name. If no info is provided for any shop in the area, then I'll choose by name, hoping something appeals to me, besides the town name. I have only just now started a list of shops I've worked with, and am trying to track them for my customer's satisfaction, recording problems and compliments.

We just recently lost a town named florist in our town - strip mall was sold to Walgreens, and she decided to not re-open. I think the new owner took over in 1998 or 1999, not sure when the previous owners opened.

tracy
 
Tracypieface said:
I do read the shop info for our wire-outs as well, and am more inclined to send my orders to someone who speaks of customer service, regardless of their name. If no info is provided for any shop in the area, then I'll choose by name, hoping something appeals to me, besides the town name. I have only just now started a list of shops I've worked with, and am trying to track them for my customer's satisfaction, recording problems and compliments.
tracy
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I don't think you should assume that a shop who provides extra information in their listing is better than a shop who provides no information. You have to pay more $ just to list that info, and you can write anything your heart desires in that extra info category. The info listed cannot always be believed. I personally know several shops that I would absolutely never use, and if you went by the info they wrote to describe their service you probably WOULD use them. Be careful with that assumption. Many top quality florists do not pay the WS to provide extra info about their shops.

I do mark the shops that I prefer to use and not to use in our data base, and am always udating the info.
 
Joe Mioux said:
Here are a couple observations. I have instructed my employees to use family named flower shops or city named flower shops before the more creatively named flower shops. Why? Becuase chances are those are the shops that have been in business longer.

If I were to open a new shop, I would name the flower shop after the city it is located. The reason, is based on internet searches.

If you were wanting to find a florist in Carlyle Illinois, how would you Search for it in the internet?

Or if you were to call the telephone operator, how would the operator search for a flower shop telephone number in a particular town?

I maybe off base with this line of reasoning and if I am please correct me.


Joe
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Joe

Our version of what you are talking about was to get the domainname for our city with both corvallisflowers.com (on our vans) and corvallisflorist.com and corvallisflorists.com and albanyflowers.com - and to combat the directory assistance liars from NY and NJ in our book we also put a listing in there that says Corvallis Florist Expressions In Bloom.

I do feel for the florists who do actually have Cityname Flowers names as they take the blame the deceptive advertisers crap on customers.
 
NavyBrat said:
I don't think you should assume that a shop who provides extra information in their listing is better than a shop who provides no information. ..... The info listed cannot always be believed..... Many top quality florists do not pay the WS to provide extra info about their shops.
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Dianne, yes this is true, I'm sure. I think it really is a crap-shoot, unless you personally know the shops in a particular area. I also am starting my own listing of shops to track, though right now it is not very broad. It's just the best I can do for now.
Hope your Easter was great, we were very busy here at the shore! Gorgeous days like Sunday makes me so glad to be alive, even if we were working!:tongue
tracy
 
Sneaky Arrangements
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lol -I called and got the skinny. lol

Lil old lady who took over a dieing flroist when her boss didn't show up one day. She asked her husband if she could take over, he said ok, if I can name it. Their logo is a cheub sneaking up with a bouquet of flowers. She has gotten A LOT of free publicity and it has helped her a lot. Her "biker" population has grown a lot and there is always a hawg in her parking lot.

Two funny stories she told me: Two hippy women came in a few months ago and whispered to her, what else are you selling here? She giggled and said just flowers.

Also, a customer of hers sent flowers to her sister a few times. Her husband got the CC bill and it said Sneaky Flowers. He tought she was cheating on him and in the end felt like a boob.

Anyway, nice little old lady who is a TF florist who has a passion for flowers. :)


When we look for a florist to send our customers to we skip florists with names like "family name" florist or "city name" florist, because in general, not all, these florists have been around forever and are more traditional. So we do the opposite of Joe. :) Our customer's don't want tradtional style. Good point about searchs Joe, but in my area, Ashland Flower Shop, big FTD/traditional shop is ranked lower than me in Yahoo and MSN, we go back and forth in Google. It is my opinion that customers of the future don't want FTD commodity flowers or the "norm", aka grocery store flowers. This is just my opinion of how customers are growing more and more on the net. And it is also my opinion that the new and next generation buyer sees the FTD logo as a bad thing. I hear it almost daily at my shop and on the phone. Why? - because in their mind FTD = Cookie Cutter style/flowers. When there is so much to choose from out there and they are spending their hard earned money, they don't want cookie cutter grocery store flowers. Yeah some old people in my area who still do, but they're rare.
 
Good for you Brandon, going to the horse's mouth, so to speak. What a great story. Personally I love the name, but then I like Wild Willy's too. ;)

V
 
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