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Top Shops: Ahead by a Century
Montreal’s Main Florist celebrates 100 years |
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Written by Amanda Ryder
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For Montreal’s Main Florist, this year doesn’t just signify the turn of a new decade. The year 2010 marks 100 years in business for the florist and a century spent delivering flowers to city residents to help celebrate life’s big occasions.
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Main Florist is a true family-run business that prides itself on modern, contemporary designs. The shop has passed through four generations of the Goldberg family.
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The business began with one woman, Alta Goldberg, when she opened Main Florist in 1910. The name was inspired by the shop’s original location on St. Laurent Boulevard in Montreal, which is nicknamed “The Main” by locals. Since its early beginnings, the florist has endured the Great Depression, moved twice, passed through four generations and sent out countless arrangements, all while remaining in the care of the Goldberg family.
At a Glance
Company Name:
Main Florist
Location: Montreal
Owners:
Louis Goldberg and Norman Goldberg
Facility Space:
1,500 square feet
Website:
www.mainflorist.com
Years in Business:
100
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Louis Goldberg, Alta’s great-grandson, now owns the business with his father Norman Goldberg and the shop is still very much a family affair. Louis Goldberg is the force behind the store and runs Main Florist with the help of Norman, a designer and a delivery driver. The 1,500-square-foot shop is a blend of the florist’s history and the modern styles of today. “I try to keep elements of the past, through the fixtures and the furniture and we bring it up to a more modern look with the decor,” says Goldberg. The walls are painted a contemporary chocolate brown and creamy beige, and a large display cooler showcases what the florist has to offer.
In terms of design style, Main Florist strives to find a balance to serve its diverse customer base. “We do so many different things for different people so I can’t say there’s one design style,” says Goldberg. The florist caters to all segments of the floral industry – everyday flowers, occasion-based blooms, sympathy work, weddings, home décor and corporate arrangements. They work to differentiate themselves by straying from more commonly found flowers like carnations and daisies in favour of blooms like ranunculus, anemones, tulips and Mokara orchids, and lush greenery like virburnum or trachelium when available. Main Florist also specializes in custom gourmet baskets using only specialty products not available at local stores. “I don’t want clients to get anything that’s carried, for instance, at Wal-Mart, Costco or local grocery stores. These companies, in my opinion, trivialize candy, goodies and nuts, making those products mass market. In effect, it cheapens the content of the baskets.”
The shop also sets itself apart by constantly trying something new and innovative. “I think what we’re known for is really just coming up with creative ideas,” says Goldberg. “When you are servicing the same people for 20, 30 or 40 years, you have to always come up with something that’s going to be different from before.” The florist is always on the lookout for new products, new glassware and new designs so that the design staff and, more importantly, the customers, don’t get bored. In terms of containers, Goldberg places a big emphasis on using vessels that the customer can reuse. “When I do the holidays and we’re sending out hundreds and hundreds of different containers, my idea is that people should be able to use what you’re sending them after the flowers expire.”
To stay up to date on the latest trends, Goldberg always has his eyes open. One particular source of inspiration is the media. Even when he’s doing a simple thing like watching TV, Goldberg can’t ignore the fact that, first and foremost, he’s a florist. He’s always searching out the background, paying special attention to centrepieces and floral accents used on the set, as these are the same flowers his customers are likely seeing.
When it comes to generating business, Main Florist is unique in the sense that 98 per cent of the business comes from phone sales. At one time, the shop’s location saw a lot of walk-by traffic, although this has declined in recent years. Despite the change, the shop hasn’t suffered – a great reputation, word of mouth and a website have kept sales steady. Goldberg maintains his own website, where he showcases the type of designs the shop offers, without getting too specific. “I try and keep my website a lot more vague because I want the client to call me in order to discuss what the final product is going to be,” he says. “I much prefer to speak to the customer and get a taste of what the needs are for their home and create a custom arrangement.”
Customer service is something that the florist prides himself on, and this extends to more than just friendly service and a smile. “I try to go to a lot of my clients’ homes and take snapshots of the general layout inside the house so when they call me up and say, we need flowers for the dining room, I know what the rooms look like and what the colour schemes are. If there’s a painting that has a shot of a unique colour, I’ll try and accent that into the flowers. I really gear for that personalized work,” says Goldberg. He keeps track of this detailed information in a database that he personally designed for the shop.
The commitment to customer care has allowed Goldberg to build a close relationship with his clients – so close that customers actually depend on the florist for holiday reminders. “When the holidays come around, we get out our lists from the previous two years and we call every single client who sent flowers, be it the $30 order or the $300 order, to remind them who they sent to and to try and generate the repeat business. Clients get very dependent on that, even for birthdays and anniversaries,” says Goldberg.
Making it to a milestone of100 years in business is no small feat and Goldberg is the first to admit that such an accomplishment hasn’t come without its challenges. Over the course of such a period, clients have come in and out of the business and he says it’s difficult to change an individual’s perception if they stopped shopping with you for a certain reason. “Maybe their taste changed or you didn’t supply them with what they wanted. There are many people who I’ve come into contact with over the years who used to be clients and who, when they see the designs that are going to other people’s houses, they say, ‘I didn’t know they did that.’ That’s one challenge: to make people not perceive you as being an old shop that does old-fashioned things,” he says. To remedy this problem, Goldberg’s found a solution: produce a product that people will actually talk about.
When asked what the key to Main Florist’s success has been, Goldberg credits a blending of old and new practices. “I’ve always found the best way to keep a strong base is to hold tight to what works well in the company and with the past generations that were before you and alter what you can to improve upon for the future. There were certain things that I didn’t like the way the older generation were doing things, but I didn’t come in and say, I’m going to do better than all of you, I’m going to change your world.” Instead, Goldberg very much values the generations before him and sees them as a great resource for business advice and insight.
With the second half of the shop’s 100th year ahead of him, Goldberg is busy planning how the shop will celebrate this achievement. For florists looking to replicate Main Florist’s success, Goldberg offers the following advice: “Keep your expenses down, that’s really the killer in this business. Also, keep humble, I think that’s the key. You have to keep to your basics and you have to keep to your roots.”
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