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Top Shops: A Full House
Saskatoon florist going strong for 47 years |
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Written by Rebecca Schwarz
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At a Glance
Company Name:
Bill’s House of Flowers
Location:
Saskatoon, Sask.
Owner:
Jana Ellis
Facility Space:
1,400 square feet with 700 square feet of retail space
Website:
www.billshouseofflowers.com
Wire Service:
FTD and Teleflora
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Before Bill Ellis opened Bill’s House of Flowers in Saskatoon, he headed north to work in the mines and save enough money for the venture. Upon his return in 1962 the novice florist opened his store, just two weeks before Mother’s Day.
“He didn’t realize how busy Mother’s Day is. But we have been going strong ever since,” says Jana Ellis, his daughter and current owner of the store. In addition to maintaining a successful business in the exact same location, Ellis has also used her shop to promote the work of local artists (see our sidebar for more on that). So how did Ellis begin her journey with Bill’s House of Flowers?
“My mom, after my dad passed away in 1999, she took over until 2007, when I bought it from her. She just owned it and I did all the work!” Today, Ellis employs four full-time employees – two designers and two salespeople, the latter including Ellis who is involved in all aspects of the business. “I do everything from mopping floors to waiting on people,” she says. In addition to her full-time staff, Ellis employs two designers and two out front staff on a part-time basis.
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Bill’s house of Flowers has become an institution on Saskatoon’s Broadway Avenue. The shop’s sign from the ’70s can be seen in the picture above.
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So, has the clientele changed much in the past 47 years? “It’s very diverse,” says Ellis, “from people who have done business with us for over 40 years to the younger generation. I have younger staff so I do have a younger clientele now but it’s very eclectic.” The shop’s design style ranges from modern and European to more traditional arrangements. “We are trying to bring in more of the 20-35 crowd to see the interesting flowers and designs we have and show them the benefits of having flowers in your house,” Ellis says. One young client has caught on to this idea and is a regular customer at Bill’s House of Flowers. “We have a little girl, she’s eleven, she comes in once a week to buy a rose for her mother!”
Ellis relies on print advertising to promote her store, a strategy that has not changed in the past 30 years. “Twice a week in the local newspaper,” she says. “Same paper, same page, same days.” Consistency, it seems, pays off and her competition has been paying close attention. “The shop down the street started advertising on the same page, lower down. I know I should be flattered but it’s annoying actually,” she admits. What has changed is, of course, the Internet, which Ellis says, has its advantages and disadvantages. “Three quarters of our orders are from specific items from our website, but sometimes you don’t have the stock. Before people would call and just order an arrangement, pink, roses, but now they look on the website and it’s exactly there, the picture is right there in front of you.” Ellis feeds Internet orders into an e-mail database she uses for marketing, after first obtaining permission from clients. She then sends out a monthly e-newsletter to her subscribers.
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The high percentage of florists in Saskatoon, she says, keeps her innovating. In fact, says Ellis, Saskatoon has more florists than Regina, even though both cities are the same size. She credits this to Miller’s Flowers, a local florist that once dominated the city. “They trained a lot of people, and a lot of them own their own shops now,” she explains.
In-store open houses and special days help Bill’s House of Flowers keep up with the competition. “We have two open houses a year, where we have cut flower specials, and door prizes. We also have Christmas design nights; customers can sign up and learn how to do a centrepiece.” The event has become so popular Ellis is considering applying for a liquor licence.
The shop’s most successful marketing initiative is Happy Hour Flowers – no liquor licence required. Ellis offers clients 50 per cent off cut flowers every Friday afternoon, drawing roughly 100 customers to her shop. The concept is to target customers who normally don’t buy flowers for themselves. Ellis stresses that the flowers on sale are fresh. In fact, clients often return two weeks later, wishing to add product to a bouquet of, say, still-fresh gerbera daisies. The event has become so successful that her competition down the street is doing it too.
For Ellis, what makes her store unique is not just the events and design workshops she offers her clientele. It’s the neighbourhood; specifically, her street, Broadway Avenue, and her building, both unchanged for 47 years. Ellis owns her building and the attached building next door to her with each dating back to the 1920s. “Just before I bought the building we redid the whole front of the building, and inside, lots of painting. All the buildings here are heritage buildings, we could have gotten a heritage grant, but the paperwork is too much,” she says.
The building and the street are part of Saskatoon’s architectural and cultural heritage, Ellis explains. Indeed, she credits the neighbourhood with her store’s success. “This is an old part of the city; it’s a very artsy-fartsy, unique place in Saskatoon. Broadway looks different from the rest of our city. There are trees and flowers, not just concrete. It’s beneficial for us; people are walking along for that reason, to pop into the shops. And they’re all locally owned and operated, no box stores.”
Ellis makes a point of taking advantage of local events to promote her store. “In September we have our street fair. The street is shut down to traffic, and out come tents, rides for kids, jugglers on the street. We have 50 per cent off all our giftware, just that one day. We get lots of people.” Bill’s House of Flowers also participates in an annual two-day art festival, The Art Encounter, which takes place each June on Broadway. Each store promotes the work of a single artist, sometimes inviting the artist to create work on site. For Ellis, it is an excellent source of new clientele, and yet another opportunity to share in the community spirit. “It’s a great couple of busy days. This year, we’re going to have a potter, he’ll have his work here. At least 150 people come by.”
So what’s her advice to other retail florists? “Be excited about change and trying new things, especially in these times. Keep having fun. Stop and smell the roses every day. When we get a little frustrated, we just stop and say, this is a pretty good job, and place to work.”
An Artistic Endeavour
Bill’s House of Flowers has learned to adapt to its surroundings and in fact, benefits from the creative neighbourhood on Broadway Avenue in Saskatoon. Ellis rents out the building adjacent to her shop to a co-operative of local artisans: “Handmade House is a local group of artists. They sell everything from paintings to homemade cards. They’ve been renting from us for over 20 years. We’re busy with walk-by traffic so it lends well to what they do,” says Ellis.
The florist has also found another unique way to contribute to her area’s artistic pedigree: offering her wall space to artists. “It all started eight years ago,” she says. “An artist came in and said, I paint flowers, could I hang up some paintings? And we sold lots of her artwork.”
Don’t call Ellis an art dealer, though. “I don’t take a commission. We just like to promote art and artists. Since then other artists have asked if they could place their work.” The paintings are not always floral-related, but Ellis says those do sell better than the more abstract pieces she sometimes displays. But she refuses to play the part of art curator: “If we have room and they want to put a couple of pieces up, I have no problem as long as it’s not vulgar. We don’t want naked people on our walls! But we have a fairly high success rate of selling paintings.”
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