yes, agf is a Favorite Place on Google!

...how in the world Avenue Gardens Florist---Wilson NC since 1931 was able to be listed as a 'Google Favorite Place' is a great accomplishment for a small Real Florist oriented business. The Florist Industry, as many others, are going thru some radical changes. The wire services, ie: FTD/800Flowers/Teleflora amongst the multitude of other 'order gatherers' have all tried to capture flower orders online and in esscence pass on only ~65% of your total paid.

By all means, ANYTIME you desire to remember your Friends and Loved Ones, find a LOCAL FLORSIT to take the care you deserve when sending flowers. you do not want a 'Call Center' messing your order up.

Thanks to Cathy at Avante Gardens in Anaheim CA for keeping us informed of the Google programs!

And thanks to Tim from Localsearchhound:
http://www.convertoffline.com/
for allowing us to use the fav goog image!

calling a Real Florist ensures Net safety and Satisfaction!

Remember to call a Real Florist when you desire to show your friends and loved ones you care.

Ruby and Todd are here to answer any of your floral need questions and to make sure your flower ordering experience goes without a hitch.

800.366.9111

THANKS!!

What a great day for flowers!


Sadly, in the flower world FTD has associated itself w/ manipulators in internet shananigans. Be very careful when placing flower orders w/ 800Flowers.com or FTD.com and even some of the associated websites. There is fine print that attempts to ensnare consumers who buy flowers, among other products online, to AUTOMATICALLY be signed up into monthly junk fees w/ the very same credit card just used to purchase the item you came online to buy! Be very careful about the fine print when completing your online orders. Congress is holding hearings now to get to the bottom of these shady business practices.

Avenue Gardens Florist, serving Wilson, NC since 1931, invites you to look at our floral images online and then you can call Ruby or Todd TOLL FREE @ 1.800.366.9111 to make sure you receive the best Real Florist attention needed when deciding what to send to your Family and Friends. When you call Avenue Gardens Florist direct you will also SAVE money by avoiding the expensive online service fees when these sites charge you for the services we do as a part of satisfying our customers.

Please be careful of these shady online crooks.

.....


...Happy Thanksgiving!

If you are looking for a way to remember your Family and Friends in WIlson, NC
Ruby or Todd can help you with beautiful flowers.
1.800.366.9111
Wilson, NC

The interent has become a place for many to lose money quickly.
Ordering flowers from reputable and non-reputable sites seem to be
a problem. The most secure way to make sure you do not get taken is to
call your locally owned Florist and talk to real Florist small business
personnel and Designers to verify secure flower ordering. Try to stay away
from the order-gathers like FTD.com, Teleflora.com, 800-Flowers and the
many marketers who try and act like they will make and send your flowers
themselves. All they are is a call center with no direct connection
to the flower making process.

Here is a vid on morning show explaining how to be careful:
http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/26184891/vp/33987109#33987109

Avenue Gardens Florist----serving Wilson, NC since 1931 is a small
real Flower Shop that wants to satisfy you with your floral needs. Please
call and ask for Ruby or Todd or Paul to make sure you get a Real
Florist's attention to detail. 800.366.9111
Have a great week!

Gosh! We have been deluged with rain the past 2 weeks.
Looking forward to some sunshine. Flowers help add
some cheerfulness on these type of weather interludes.
Have a great week!

What a beautiful day. A little on the cloudy side but a good break from the deep heat of the summer. Great day to remember your friends and loved ones with a beautiful fresh flower design. Call 252.291.2256 and ask for Ruby or Todd to have your sentiments delivered today.

Wilson NC

Thursday May 21st is a beautiful day. Low humidity and warming up. Preparing for a wedding this weekend and have some beautiful flowers in ready to be Professionally designed and sent to your loved ones or business aquaintances. Give Ruby or Todd a call at 800.366.9111. This is a holiday weekend but the most important thing to remember is WHY we celebrate this weekend. While you are out enjoying the freedoms our soldiers have provided for us take a moment and think of the sacrifices they have made so you can have THAT MOMENT!

Have a wonderful weekend!

Flowers from Avenue Gardens Florist -- since 1931-- Wilson, NC

What a beautiful rainy day here in WIlson NC. Next week will be a great time to remember you Family, Loved Ones or Business Associates with a beautiful design
of fresh colorful flowers.

Have a great week!

agf
wilson, nc

proflowers delivery fiasco blogged

this is from a friends blog about proflowers(boxed undesigned flowers arriving):



http://www.smithsflowers.com/blog/odd-stuff/proflowers-funeral

Yes, ladies and gentlemen this unsuspecting customer ordered from
Proflowers.com for a funeral. And yes, this is an actual picture taken in
a Philadelphia PA, funeral parlor recently. I do not doubt for one minute,
that the sender intended to send a beautiful bouquet. Proflowers.com
pictures many nice looking designs on their site, but they come, as shown above
in a box.
And before you think this is an isolated case, think again.
This type of thing happens time and time again, day in and day out all across
North America. Unsuspecting consumers trust a beautiful picture to convey
their emotions, but receive something much different.
We can’t blame the
funeral directors either. They are not floral designers, what would you
expect them to do? They either have to leave the box out back in the
garage or flower room, or simply set it in the parlor so that the family knows
it’s there. Usually they leave them out back, and give them to the family
when they are leaving to go home. But, in some cases as you can see above,
they place them in the viewing room for all to see. I certainly would not
want the grieving family to know I did not care enough to find a local real
florist, and sent flowers in a box.
When you need to send flowers either in
town or out of town, give us a call, or visit the florist directory on our site
and select one of our recommended real florists. Flowers in a box just
don’t cut it…ever.

-->
Tagged as: Boxed
Flowers
{ 10 comments… read them below or add one }
Dan
Hamilton 03.13.09 at 11:34 am
Great writeup! Is it OK if I use it on
my website? I’m a real florist, too. This article tells it all and should be
required reading. Thanks!
smiths 03.13.09 at 2:43 pm
Of course Dan. All to often we’re
hearing of this happening at funeral homes across the country when people order
from ProFlowers.com and any of the other “direct from the fields”, flowers in a
box vendors. The consumer is duped into thinking they are saving money, when in
reality they are getting a box of flowers that sits in the flower room of the
funeral home or the freight room of a hospital.
I’ll send you the original
image in an email.
Spread the word.
Sachi 03.18.09 at 9:11 pm
You’re doing a wonderful job educating
the customer about the floral industry and thank you so much for adding Fleurty
to your directory!
Much Luv from CA!Sachi
Martin H 05.11.09 at 10:54 pm
Come on! - Surely it’s common sense
for the funeral directors to take the flowers out of the box? We know that a
huge amount of flowers being sent are by boxed flower delivery and this article
just seems to be trying to support “real” florists who deliver by
hand
Perhaps people are fed up with paying money to “real florists” and there
relay networks only to see a portion of the money spent going on the
bouquet?
Its the consumer that has shaped the future landscape of online
florists by demanding the convenience to order online.
Wake up and smell the
coffee - Much the same way as Yellow Pages directory is being ditched for the
online equivelant, you simply cannot stop the evolution of online
consumers.
smiths 05.12.09 at 6:51 am
Martin, thank you for visiting and your
comments.
Sure, I would agree that it is “common sense” for the funeral
director to take the flowers out of the box, but alas, what to do with them
then? They are not designed inside the box, they are simply strapped in in
bunches. Roses are shipped with the thorns on in a growers bunch the same way a
florist receives them, often with no foliage or vase.
I doubt too many
funeral homes have a supply of vases sitting on a shelf just waiting for a box
of flowers to arrive. Every funeral director I have spoken to about this, hates
it, often stating “I am not a floral designer” and they do not want some
unprofessional design in their viewing rooms. More often than not, they give the
family the flowers in the box, and the sender never knows, because they get a
“thank you for the flowers” card that never states “how” the flowers
arrived.
I agree with you completely about the siphoning off of funds by
“floral networks” hence my mantra of contacting a real local florist directly,
and that’s the very reason I offer links to other florists both here and on our
ecommerce web site. I want every customer to get their full values worth. It’s
the likes of FTD that often add on a “service fee” of upward of $14.95 that they
keep along with 30% of the purchase price that is fouling up the works for
consumers and florists alike.
Not sure about the “convenience factor” your
talking about. Most local florists have online presences, but I would agree the
internet is changing the landscape. One point, I do not consider Proflowers a
“florist”, rather a broker or middleman. I would never want to stop the
evolution of online consumers, every day our web business grows and I’m very
thankful for that. The thing that is changing more than anything, is long
distance customers are going around the likes of FTD and Teleflora and ordering
directly with the delivering local florist. That is a very good thing. The
florist gets paid 100% and the consumer gets 100%, it’s a win/win.
Next time
you have a chance, ask your local funeral directors for their thoughts on “boxed
flowers” and whether or not they put them in water, or send them home in the
box… I wonder if they take the thorns off myself.
adam 05.12.09 at 7:09 am
wow, Martin, common sense? Im sure the
funeral directors have all the time in the world to arrange boxed flowers in
between everything else they have to do! Gimme a break!
Great blog BOSS, keep
up the good work dude!Adam
surfsalterpath 05.12.09 at 9:09 am
>Come on! - Surely it’s common sense
for the funeral directors to take the flowers out of the box? < href="http://www.springcitydesign.com/" rel="external nofollow">Robin 05.12.09 at 9:20 am
Wow, that is something. Those drop-ship
companies probably get a lot of one-time customers but not much repeat business.
As a florist myself, I’m all for online ordering. People can easily order
directly from an me or any actual florist in an an actual shop.
Martin, your
quote: “Perhaps people are fed up with paying money to “real florists” and there
relay networks only to see a portion of the money spent going on the bouquet?”
does not apply to real florists, but online order gatherers and the big wire
services who collect fees from their members while competing against them for
customers.
If anyone is unclear on the difference, go to this website: http://www.floristdetective.com/
Believe me
Heather 05.12.09 at 11:21 am
As the wife of a funeral director I
have seen my fair share of boxed flowers arriving at the funeral home.
Funeral directors aren’t floral designers. They have no design tools and no
design skills and many times these items show up with no vase to even place them
in.
I do have some experience in floral design and even I am amazed when the
boxes show up. We once unpacked boxed flowers and attempted to display them at
the funeral home. When we opened the box we found 10 stems of iris (no greens,
no filler flowers) strapped into the box with shipping straps (that we had to
run around and find wire cutters to even get them out,) a short vase, and a pack
of “flower food”. We put water in the vase, I cut the stems (which is more than
any funeral director would have done), and added the “flower food”. It was a sad
sight. I was hoping that the sender would see it and sadly, she did. She wanted
the number of the florist who delivered the flowers and when we pulled her into
the office to explain how they were delivered she was mad at us (or embarrassed
with herself) for taking the flowers out of the box. Needless to say, we never
did that again.
When we hand over the box of flowers to the family they
often reply with the same question that we had when the flowers arrived, “What
are we supposed to do with that?”
Lily 05.12.09 at 3:12 pm
Martin,You sound like you work for the
boxed flower company. I bet you do!I for one am very happy to be informed of
something like this, how else would we ever know crazy things like this are
going on. I would hate to have sent flowers thinking I was doing something nice
for a grieving family only to later find out I had stuck them with a box they
had to drag home. The flowers in that box are probably dead ugh. The
horror!

Is there a consumer lesson here?

Thanks from a local Real Florist in WIlson NC!

Thank you to all who called Avenue Gardens Florist last week to order flowers for their Mothers. You used a local Real Florist! We have been in this same location since 1931! Can you believe that? We strive to make sure all of our designs are as expected and delivered when requested. And if we make a mistake we are there to talk with you and try to make sure we will be the Florist you call next time you need flowers in Wilson NC.


Thanks so much for calling Avenue Gardens Florist-serving Wilson NC since 1931!

boxed flowers left at courthouse on Saturday get hosed!

When you order flowers from a Real Florist, mistakes like flowers in a box that need to be arranged(ProFlowers or FTD.com) would not be mistaken as a bomb:see story:

http://www.theleafchronicle.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2009905100348

The Montgomery County Bomb Squad was forced to destroy what
could have been an early Mother's Day present — a dozen multicolored roses. At
about 3:30 p.m. Saturday, the weekend caretaker for the Montgomery County
Courthouse was called because the fire alarm was going off, said Tim Chandler,
Montgomery County Homeland Security
coordinator.
triggerAd(1,PaginationPage,9);

When officials arrived,
they found what was reported as a suspicious package at the main entrance to the
courthouse in Millennium Plaza.
All local authorities were notified,
including the Clarksville Police Department, Montgomery County Sheriff's Office
and Clarksville Fire Rescue, and a four-block area of downtown was
cleared.
"We don't touch it, we don't move it, we don't breathe on it,"
Chandler said. Using an unmanned robot, Bomb Squad members Sgt. Cliff Smith and
Bishop Delaney used what Chandler described as a "water shot," or black
powder-propelled water, to render the black cardboard box "somewhat
safe."
The box — and roses inside — were destroyed, but Chandler said
authorities could determine there were no wires or explosive devices
inside.
The package, which appeared to be from FTD Florists(ftd,com), was supposed to
be delivered Friday, but instead was left at the front entrance on
Saturday

.



The lesson? Make sure you use your local Real Florist when you order flowers. Save money time and get personal real service.

florist wilson nc flowers and the changes to our business model

...below are some great post by fellow Florists who have predicted changes would come in the Florist industry. This Mother's Day has show these changes to be coming true.

The lesson? Call your local Real Florist to get the best value for your dollar when you remember your Family and Friends with flowers. It is the truth! And it is happening NOW!

the trend is Real Florist's saying no to FTD and 800flowers and order-gatherers

and this is happening

It's Spreading.... did you hear it?
Posted 46 Minutes Ago at 09:31 PM
by BOSS
Tags
I have been saying for years it would happen. I and others have quietly (not
so sometimes) been spreading the word.... the movement is moving (punny huh)
ahead almost unseen across North America, and around the globe.Traditional brick
and mortar mom and pop slob florists are saying no, pulling the plugs on wire
service communications, and dropping out of the services that for decades were
once a blessing, now turned burden and standing up to be counted.The first
evidence came about May 3rd when we downloaded the wire service directories and
all noticed the reduced numbers of memberships. Not just FTD, but the numbers
for Teleflora and 800Flowers too were all down. Yes, some of this is from shops
closing, but truth be known, the vast majority are simply disconnecting from the
mother ship. That was the first sign.The second, for me anyway, was the numerous
shops I talked to directly that told me about the likes of order gatherers and
the Black Hats at 800TFTD...florists are wising up. I feel strongly this trend
will continue. For me, I'm making the wire biz, nonessential to my future
success. Finding it much more productive to focus on direct customer sales and
eliminate the issues caused by wire orders, both in and out.Also, I think this
is *perhaps* how the trend will go forward....First we'll continue to see a
decline in wire service membership. It will become increasingly difficult to get
orders out florist to florist. At the same time the volume will continue todrop
anyway. Eventually you'l see fewer and fewer shops to send to and the wire
services will begin to (if they are not already) become insolvent and cash poor
because of declining membership dollars from directories, products and service
they are now raping the florists over.What will be left, is many strong
individual florists that have very little outgoing volume but very healthy local
sales. There will be a group too, todays OG's that will still have orders but no
where to get them filled, then whatchya gonna do?Eventually all will be right
with the world, and there will just be florists again, oh and probably
ProFlowers.... But I can live with that.Happy Mothers Week... I hope you were
blessed, I know I was.

a fellow florist had this to say about $29.99 flowers...

When ordering flowers one must be wise to the tricks mareters do to get you to spend way more money than is necessary. 90% of the time you could have called your friendly neighborhood florist and paid almost $10-$20 less for the same designs.

Be smart when ordering flowers.

The TRUTH about "Flowers From $29.99"
Posted 54 Minutes Ago at 09:08 PM
by kt4ye

Starting at Valentine's Day and continuing through Easter and Mother's Day,
we saw major National FLOWER BROKERS such as FTD, Teleflora and 1-800-FLOWERS
advertising "Flowers from $29.99" (or some such.) The fact is that this is a
"come on" and a "gimmick."Here is why.First, the price they show IS NOT THE
PRICE YOU PAY!ALL these BROKERS add a "service/delivery charge" of around $14.
So your "$29.99 flowers end up costing you about 50% MORE -- around $44!Second,
let's look at the numbers. The Flower Brokers INCLUDE about $7 in that $29.99
price for delivery. After the (roughly) 30% BROKER COMMISSION is deducted from
the price, that leaves the INDEPENDENT FLORIST (like the Flower Hut) that
receives the order and fills and delivers it about $21. (We don't even get the
$7 delivery fee since that is ALSO reduced by 30% to about $5.)By the way, the
$14 "service/delivery" charge is almost NEVER sent to the local florist. They
KEEP IT as an extra PROFIT source.So that leaves about $16 for the INDEPENDENT
FLORIST to buy the flowers and container, pay a floral craftsperson to make it
-- and make a PROFIT.Many/most PROFESSIONAL florists have a MINIMUM net order
size of about $25 to $30 dollars PLUS a DELIVERY FEE of $7 to $12.So... what
type of flower shop is likely to ACCEPT and FILL an order from a Flower Broker
for $29.99 GROSS; $21 NET??Is THIS the kind of shop that you want to TRUST to
convey YOUR feelings of love and affection?

We are there. It is already Mother's Day 2009! Avenue Gardens Florist has the designs of flowers and/or plants you will want to send to your Mother. Call and ask for Ruby or Todd and they will help you pick out something special. Easy and simple, 800.366.9111

Thanks for calling Avenue Gardens Florist--
serving Wilson NC since 1931,

252.291.2256

...yep, this is a great time to remember all of those who help us make it through the day. Their titles used to be 'secretaries' but now just like 'stewardesses' the nomenclature has changed. Administrative Professional's Week it is. Whether it is called Administrative Professional or Secretaries Week....it is still a great time to send a nice beautiful flower design to those who help make your days just a little easier!

.....well, it is still raining here in Wilson, NC. And we can still fix up a beautiful spring bokay of flowers to make that week start off on the bright side.

...what a beautiful day it could be.

....well, it is a rainy and dreary day here in Wilson NC.
Just perfect for remembering your friends and loved ones with some beautiful
colorful flowers from Avenue Gardens Florist.

...welcome to avenue gardens florist 1st blog

.....

.....ok, so you found us on the web. GREAT! Now you can look over some designs and call us to place that special flower order for your Friends or Loved One's to remember them by! Below is a little more about our shop and what we have been doing since 1931. Thanks for checking us out! We will do everything we can to provide you with the best floral design and service in Wilson NC!
------flowers for WILSON NC "since 1931" we offer exceptional service--creative design--speedy delivery at our Wilson NC Florist It's easy to call 800.366.9111 and ask for Ruby or Todd We will help express your sentiments with beautiful flowers In addition to zip codes 27893 and 27896, as a FTD Member, we can service all your floral needs worldwide with 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed!
---with this promise you feel comfortable selecting from creative floral designs-- roses--blooming plants--green plants--balloons--silk designs--funeral sprays-wreaths or baskets--fruit and gift baskets--party designs--corporate functions and wedding parties
---Avenue Gardens Florist can deliver to Joyners--Thomas Yelverton--Hamilton--Shingleton--Wilson Memorial Service--Caroons--King&Darden and Edwards Funeral Homes our local hospital, Wilson Medical Center all residential sites in the 27893 and 27896 zip codes Barton College too
---We Appreciate Your Business! call Avenue Gardens Florist today 800.366.9111 or 252.291.2256