Sacramento Florist - Change with the Economy

The last few months have become very challenging for small businesses like florists. Driving to work, it is very discomforting to see empty commercial spaces and large 'For Lease' signs on windows, and on the side of roads. Next to our shop, there used to be no parking space to be had; trucks and cars used to park on the street. In March, a large construction painting company just closed their shop and now there's a lot of empty parking spaces.

Our flower business is down by at least 20% for the first quarter of the year and it looks like it would be the same for the second quarter. Brides have become very cost conscious - those that came to us ordered only the basic flowers they needed - bridal bouquet, small bridesmaids bouquets, small corsages and boutonnieres, and loose flowers or rose petals that they will use for table decorations. We've had a few nice wedding business, but a lot fewer this year than last. We particularly loved the wedding we did last month where we did centerpieces including the guest sign-in table, food table and the ladies' bathroom. The chuppah was a challenge to make but in a good way.

The funeral business has also slowed down. Families have also become more cost conscious in their flower purchases. We had one family order loose flowers and materials for a relative to arrange the flowers for the service. Fortunately, there are still a few that we were able to do, a recent one were tropical arrangements for a funeral.

We have hunkered down, downsized as much as we are able to, and still continue to operate the business without going into debt. We are still able to pay our bills, mortgage for the shop and our residence. Still, the economy does not look good. In Sacramento, our economy depend so much on the government - it is the biggest employer, and with Friday furloughs, not only are the government employees affected, a lot of businesses are affected - restaurants, gift shops, etc.

We are hoping the economy improves, but if not, we will continue to watch our expenses, market our business the most economical way and hopefully find ways to do it for free, and find additional corporate accounts. We look for best pricing in flowers so that we can offer the best price to our customers. Our best asset will still be our customer service and our same day delivery service.

Local Florist in Sacramento, CA

We are in a challenging economic environment. A Vanity Fair Florist used to be located in a leased space in a strip mall in Citrus Heights on the corner of Auburn and Greenback Lane. During those years we were there, we were burglarized several times, along with cash, our cash register was stolen, door lock broken and had to be repaired, windows needed to be replaced. Any plant or item left outside the shop would disappear and after our lease was up, our lease was about to go up. Burglary on other businesses nearby was occurring quite often.

The bad economy also discouraged people to walk into a flower shop. Because of all these problems, we decided to buy our own commercial property - a little old house in a commercial lot situated between an office building and an auto repair shop and facing the FBI and the Sacramento Sheriff's department. Unfortunately, we bought it at the height of the real estate boom. We are now upside down on the property and cannot find financing to update the property as of yet. However, we are still a running business because we are able to operate with lower overhead. There used to be a very nice shop called Conroy's located not too far from us on Madison Ave. Another shop rented a nice location not too far from us on Auburn Blvd. is also shut down.And yet another flower shop located on Garfield Ave. is also long gone. The economy forced us to move to our humble location, still serving our old customers and people sending flowers to funerals at East Lawn Sierra Hills Cemetery and to Calvary Catholic Cemetery. We also deliver to Reichert's Funeral and Price Funeral Home in Citrus Heights. We service Merrill Gardens in Citrus Heights, CA, the Carmichael Oaks Retirement Home in Carmichael, CA, the Atria El Camino Gardens also in Carmichael, and others. We provide weekly flowers and flowers for special occasions. Aside from flowers, we have balloons, plush toys, silk flowers, candles, greeting cards, plants, baskets, and floral supplies.

There is a real bad looking building that used to be a florist on the corner of Orange Grove and Auburn Blvd. It used to house a flower shop called Flower Station. It was abandoned in 2002 but remained listed in directories as Love N Touch until 2008. It has hand painted signs now faded that says - Roses, Valentines Flowers. I wonder if that is the building that Dina saw driving by and became passionate to write a review about A Vanity Fair Florist.

Sacramento Florist Helps you Celebrate your Secretary

Secretary is not the politically correct term anymore, but Administrative Assistant
or Administrative Professional is such a long term and the job entails basically the same skills and duties, that's why I used the short term for the title of this piece.

For every successful manager, success depends on the skillful and adept Administrative Assistant or Administrative Support Team.

Success starts with your Administrative Assistant. Share your success with your Assistant - Send Flowers, or plants!

Administrative Professional Week is celebrated the last week of April. This year it falls on the week of April 20th to the 26th. This holiday celebrates secretaries, administrative assistants, executive secretaries, receptionists, and all other administrative support staff. This holiday was started in 1952 to recognize those in the administrative support field, (in the old days were called secretarial staff) and encourage others to follow in that career path.

Show your support team how much they mean to you. Send them flowers to let them know you appreciate them. Flowers and balloons, and small plants are a great way to show your appreciation for that special person who supports you or your office. Your administrative professional would love to receive a beautiful floral arrangement to show your appreciation and give their busy desk a beautiful display.

Let them know how much you appreciate your support staff by sending them your gift of appreciation early in the week. If you decide to send flowers or plants, place your order on Monday for delivery on Monday or Tuesday. What ever you decide, use the services of local Sacramento businesses. If you need a florist, please give us a call and we'll take good care of your order and we will deliver promptly.

Local Sacramento Florist prepares for Easter

One of the holidays that florists await for, plan and prepare for is Easter. When times were better, relatives who live out of town send flowers, gift baskets or the traditional Easter lily plant to their loved ones in Sacramento. Nowadays, most florists just plan for a nice full week. For those of us who have corporate customers like churches, we have Easter lilies to prepare and church arrangements to work on for delivery for the Easter service and for retirement homes for their dining rooms.
In other countries like the Philippines, they celebrate Easter which starts with Palm Sunday and the rest of the week is called Holy Week. Students would be given the whole week off to go back home and celebrate the holiday with their family.
So, before we all get busy with our Easter work, I send you my wish for a peaceful week - Happy Easter to you all.

Send a Smile, Send Flowers

We received 2 orders for tulips today, one was for an arrangement of hot pink tulip, another was for lavender tulips. However, we only had pink tulips available, so that's what we delivered. One recipient (in Citrus Heights, CA) said, it couldn't be for valentine's, because it's long been over, and it's not her birthday either. But she was happy to get one anyway, it was a nice surprise.  The other delivery was made for a ladyin Carmichael, CA who just lost a loved one. She was very happy to get the flowers and even gave the driver a tip. The flowers not only gave a smile to her face, it also gave the driver a real big smile for the tip. Now, if only more people order direct from a local Sacramento florist, not only will they have a smile for the affordability, but also give them more satisfaction when they hear the "thank you" from the recipient. See our Spring Tulips

Valentines Day - Express your Feelings with Flowers

Often times finding the right words to express feelings and emotions is difficult. This Valentines Day, how can you best say what is in your heart and on your mind? Flowers can help. Considered the universal language by many, flowers transcend emotional, racial, and national barriers to express a wide variety of feelings.

The following is a list of contemporary meaning commonly associated with the color of roses:

• Red - true love, passion, I love you

• Yellow - happiness, friendship, freedom

• Pink - sweetness, gentleness, grace, joy

• Bright pink - thankfulness

• Peach - sincerity

• Orange - fascination, enthusiasm

• White - purity and innocence
• Lavender - enchantment, love at first sight

Valentine's Day is a very busy time for flower shops, so be sure to give your local florist plenty of advance notice, most especially if you want to send a specific color or variety of rose. It's also a good idea to have a second choice in mind. And remember that your local florist can arrange for roses to be delivered out of town, too. Consider having the flowers delivered a day or two early. It will make easier for your florist to give you the best selection and service, and it will let your Valentine know that you just couldn't wait to get your message across.

Flower Delivery in Sacramento, Buy Local

In this time of economic turmoil, it is hard to tolerate retail companies who take a customer’s money without fully disclosing who they are or where their money goes. In particular I’m referring to companies who pose as local florists, but in fact, are just order-gatherers. They appear in the phone book as “Flowers in Sacramento” or “Sacramento Florist” or something similar. Most of the time they are only a local phone number attached to an out-of-state order desk. They take the order, charge big service or delivery fees, then assure the customer that they will process and deliver the order as specified. Little does the customer know what happens next.

The order-gatherer will attempt to find a real florist in the delivery area who will do the work for a discounted price. The discount is hefty. Many times the local florist who fills the order will only get 73% of the order value to actually fill the order. So, for example, if you order a $50 arrangement, you will pay $50 plus a $15.00 delivery or service fee plus tax, or about $70 for the order. The filling florist will get about $48.00 to fill and deliver your order. (You have to ask yourself, how motivated would I be to work for 73% of my wage?) The order-gatherer gets about $22.00 just for answering the phone and taking the order.


There’s an easy way to save money when ordering flowers out-of-town. An Internet search on “flowers Sacramento, CA”, for example, will yield an abundant list of florists, but be careful. Select a florist who has a street address in the ZIP code of the recipient. This will guarantee you have selected a real florist who has a real shop, and who will make and deliver your arrangement, usually at a lower cost than an order-gatherer. If you can’t find a street address associated with the phone number, chances are there isn’t one. This is the first tip-off that the business is just an order-gatherer, not a real florist.

So there you have it. You win with a real florist every time. No “buds” about it!

Local Florist in Sacramento

The presidential election is over, and it looks like the $650 million plus dollars in campaign contributions worked and the source of the contributions would not be looked into. However, people's attention is now directed to the poor economy.
There are several floral shops that have now closed because of the economic situation we're in. Those of us that are open are just trying to hang in there and hope to survive until the economy improves.
In the meantime, we try to be creative and innovative with our floral designs, our plants, and gift offerings to differentiate ourselves from grocery stores, big box or hardware stores. We are a local florist where brides can get affordable bridal bouquets at a very affordable price, a local florist that out of town customers can call for last minute orders for delivery in the metro Sacramento, Ca area, Roseville and Elk Grove.

Sacramento, CA is in a sad state

As a small business owner, it is hard not to worry in this shaky economy. I especially fear that a lot of small businesses will have difficulty surviving if Obama gets elected. He speaks so eloquently, but that's because he has teleprompter in fron of him, but when he doesn't, he stumbles with his words. It looks like he is so pessimistic about the situation, but doesn't really have a solution to speak of. He can't even decide if the government's action on AIG was the right thing or wrong move to take, and he thinks AIG is American Insurance Group. It is scary, and then his VP says that it is "patriotic" to pay more taxes. That is scary!
Here in Sacramento, CA, there are people demonstrating and demanding that they be allowed to use financial aid and pay in-state fees to go to college. These people are illegal immigrants! My first born couldn't and wasn't eligible for in-state fees and financial aid so she stayed in WA state when we moved to Sacramento, CA. We are Americans, and we didn't demand that our children be afforded in-state college fee even if we worked hard and paid taxes to the government. How could illegal immigrants have the nerve to demonstrate and demand benefits they do not deserve?

I hope that there are more people that realize that the Democratic candidates will cause them more harm, than good. That they realize, that McCain and Palin are sincere and speak from their heart and gut and really will try hard to improve the US government.

Small Sacramento Florist in a Shaky Economy

The headlines scream with gloom and doom, the Democrats blaming the Bush government for the financial crisis and the media wondering and sort of implying that there will be more large banks that will be affected after the rescue of AIG, and showing how the world is very much affected.

So, in our small corner of the world, how are we being affected?

The last few days, there have been fewer people buying flowers from our flower shop. The phone calls were mostly solicitation calls, people trying to sell their services from credit card processing, to website promotion, search marketing optimization, and a lot of hang-up calls.

The election is very much distressing to small business people like us. Being in a blue state with a large number of electoral votes, and a lot of outspoken liberal actors, I fear and I'm angry that people are not only convinced about the Democrats, but are also so very negative and derogatory towards the Republican candidate and his VP choice.

I just read about an article on the root of this financial crisis. Bernake's report implies that the congress in the Clinton era had a very big hand in the root of this crisis. That's why Obama is very much against investigating the cause of this crisis, while McCain is demanding a commission. And whoever is elected will not have much to do to solve it. The congress, majority of which is democrats, has a much more active role in working on the financial regulations. It's a scary thought to have the democrats get elected, it's not good for small business owners like us. There might not be too many Mom & Pops survive the many regulations, taxations, and other expenses specially since they plan to fund more social issues, better and more benefits to illegal immigrants who get better financial aid for their illegal immigrant children while my children have to struggle to support themselves in college because they are not qualified and they are American born to American parents and they speak English but can't speak Spanish. While we have to purchase our own health insurance, the Democrats finance benefits for illegals to get free medical care.

I hope and pray that the red states come through for the Republicans. McCain is a real American, he's more for fiscal responsibility, spending only the money that you have, and he's been fighting pork barrel earmarks for a long time. He has shown how hard working he is for the American people, he also has been able to get the other side work with him. It's too scary to be lead by a person that is there because of the support of millions of dollars from Fannie Mae and Freddie mac, and the influential movie moguls who are so liberal and too too to the left.

Gifts for Guys, Delivered by Sacramento Florist

For affordable gifts for guys, select balloons and chocolates or candy bouquet. If you are planning on sending a gift to his workplace or office the perfect gift to give is a green plant. Here is one that is perfect for an office desk, long lasting tropical plants in a very cute weber grill. Very compact, very affordable and long lasting gift he'll love.


Another take on this weber grille gift is a candy bouquet as follows:
Any of these two gifts are unique, and exclusively offered only by A Vanity Fair Florist, a family owned local florist here in Sacramento, CA.

A Little Flower Shop in Sacramento, CA

Most small business owners in the Sacramento area are looking for ways to drum up business. As a small business owner, I get so much phone calls from telemarketers promising to send business my way. One caller claimed their directory gets thousands of potential customers, claiming that they get a lot of web surfers searching for Sacramento florists. One company asked me to type certain keywords to show that their directory is on the top listing. Trouble is they are asking so much money, money that will eat up into the small budget that we small business owners work with.
Another caller used the same line, a promise to send more customers to our website. They can optimize our site and we'll find our site on the top listing on the search engines within a week. It's annoying sometimes to get so many calls each day of the week, taking our precious time on our main business - which is retailing of flowers and gifts and looking for simple and affordable ways to attract more business.

Sacramento CA and the Economy

With the housing market in a tight spot here in the Sacramento area and the price of gas is now over 3 bucks, I wonder how the floral industry will fare in this state of our economy. A few flower shops closed and a couple are up for sale.
The December sales are slightly down from last year, I wonder how our valentine sale will be. I have lowered my expectations and I'm not buying roses as much as last year, and yet, I'm hoping for the best. Not only do I have to prepare for that one day, I also need to prepare for a wedding for the Sunday after valentine. Thank goodness, weddings and funeral work are still a large part of the business of a florist. Weddings and funeral work haven't yet been invaded by walmart or the drug stores or grocery stores.

Affordable Florists Are in Your Local City

Affordable florists are in your neighborhood. Just look around your neighborhood, and you might find not one but a couple of flower shops to choose from. In my neighborhood, I just discovered that there are actually 2 florists at the corner shopping center, each facing each other and separated only by a parking lot access street. Amazing! But it is nice to just walk in and see what each one offers, select the freshest flowers, or plants, balloons or other gifts to send to friends or loved ones.
If you need flowers sent out of town, chances are you'll look online and search for florist in that town or city. Often times, the florists that pop up first are the big wire service providers that send orders nationally. But beware, even with their advertisement of saving you money, it usually just means that your recipient of flowers will not get the best value for your money.

Upon opening the phone book, one usually finds big and attractive ads of florists. Most local florists would only be able to afford small ads and the ads show their exact address and their local phone numbers. The big ads would usually have their 800 numbers and occasionally have a local number but would not disclose their actual address or location. If you call their 800 number you could potentially be calling a call center not only out-of-town, but out of the country!

Here's top 5 reasons for calling and ordering from your real local florist:
1 You get the best value for your money; you won't get charged any handling or shipping fee. The only fee added to your order of flowers is their standard delivery fee, and the applicable sales tax.
2 You get to speak directly to the florist who knows what is the freshest flower in stock, the flowers in season, and can answer any of your questions and concerns, and give you suggestions if you need any. And if you have any custom design in mind, the florist can make it to your specifications.
3 You can be assured that your flowers will be delivered promptly. The local florist knows the area very well, is familiar with the policies of funeral homes and hospitals in their delivery area, and if your order needs to be there at a certain time, you can communicate it directly with the florist.
4 In a rush, you have a better chance of having your delivery delivered the same day if you call the florist directly.
5 By talking to the local florist, you will get a feel of whether they will take care of your order with care or not. You can give them special instructions on how to handle the order or delivery, i.e, the recipient is hard of hearing, or is slow to get to the door.

So, the next time you need flowers, visit your local florist, you'll save a lot more than the $5.00 dollar coupon from the national flower wire sending service. In Sacramento, use A Vanity Fair Florist - the most affordable florist in Sacramento, CA.

How to Make the Most of the Holidays

You'll be busier than ever this holiday season, so here's how you can get the most out of these festive occasions with the least amount of time and stress.
Mark your calendar Plan what you will do each day for the next week, and plan to start your activity on schedule.
Make a List Make a list of supplies you need. Make a list of people you plan to give gifts to.

Make a list of people you plan to send cards to. Check off the lists as you go. On your list of people, remember to at least put the date or the year. You will be very happy to see your list the following year and be reminded of what you gave the last year.
Plan your shopping trips With the price of gas, you need to plan your shopping trips and don't forget your list and try to stick to it.
Bake home made cookies It's surprising what a few gaily decorated sweets can do. Brightly decorated cookies not only are taste-ticklers, but they make interesting gifts...especially when packaged with holiday wrapping and bows. Make the dough in advance and store in the refrigerator, or buy the cookie dough. Costco and most grocery stores now carry a wide variety of cookie doughs.
Try these Time-Savers Keep a supply of peeled carrots, celery, and lettuce in the refrigerator ready for an attractive veggie salad plate. Save tidbits of meat from turkey bones. Use for gravies or chop fine, add relish for sandwich spread.
Here's an easy to make Holiday Cookie:
You will need: 1 cup shortening, 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1/2 cup white sugar, 1 egg, 2 tablespoons orange juice, 1 tablespoon grated orange rind 2 3/4 cups sifted all-purpose flour, 1/4 tsp. salt, 1/2 tsp. baking soda, 1/2 cup pecan nut meats (broken).

Cream shortening and add sugars gradually, while beating constantly. Add egg, well beaten, orange juice and orange rind. Sift flour, soda, and salt together and add the nuts. Form into rolls. Store in the refrigerator until ready to use. When ready, slice thin, place on greased cookie sheets. Bake at 375 degrees F for 12 to 15 minutes. You can decorate before or after baking, depending on your mood.

Centerpieces to accent Thanksgiving Table

The night comes earlier now and colder too. Which brings us closer to Thanksgiving and then Christmas. I am hosting dinner this year just like last year since my father-in-law passed 3 years ago and my mother-in-law has not been invited by any of the offsprings older than my husband, so we decided we'd have thanksgiving at our house. We'll have the usual turkey and dressing, ham and the trimmings. It's usually so busy at work that we have not enough time to prepare, but then, there's just my family of 3 and Mom and one or two brothers. I promised myself that I'll make a flower centerpiece to decorate my food table this year, and I'll also make one for my sister who is hosting a dinner for my side of the family.
Happy Thanksgiving to you all!

Florists in Sacramento

There's this large florist with 2 stores that just shut down so suddenly. Both stores are in prime locations, both are next to a Subway shop. One would think that this florist is doing so well, with all the volume deliveries they do and the large inventory they carry in terms of containers, plants and flowers. The local wholesaler for greens/foliage shared that this florist owed them 24 hundred and who knows how much they owe the flower wholesalers. Unfortunately this florist declared bankruptcy and closed so suddenly. It's good for my business - I've seen an increase in walk-ins and call-ins, however, it's not good for the industry, not good for my wholesalers who have to suffer the loss of not being paid for supplies that have already been delivered and used by this florist.
One major reason for their downfall was 800flowers. Not only did they pay a percentage of their sales, but they also had to contend with the cheap orders sent to them by 800flowers. At best, they got 50% of the cost of orders from which they have to subtract the cost of goods and labor, delivery and all the associated expense of running a business. It's a very unfortunate situation.
My wholesalers are now more than ever grateful for the small Mom and Pop florists who either pay upfront or pay their bills consistently at the end of the month.
I'm a small florist in Sacramento and my greens/foliage wholesaler acknowledged that he appreciates that we pay upfront for our purchases, and we can be relied on to buy from him every week.

School Just Begun

Aug. 27, Monday was the start of school for most college students in the Sacramento, CA community colleges. For the elementary, junior high and high schoolers, school started last week. Nationwide, school begins after labor day. So everyone is buckling down, settling down to a daily routine. A lot of people are back home from vacations.
I am amazed at young people that signed up for college courses. Of the dozen close friends that my son has, only 1 friend and my son are enrolled in college. The rest are making too much money for their age at their jobs. Hopefully, my son and his friend stick it out.
And with the school and the daily routine and everyone back from vacations, I am seeing and getting a few more flower orders either from the website or over the phone.

Thank goodness, the slow months of summer (for the flower business anyway) is slowly a thing of the past again. And we continue to do wedding flowers for weddings for this month and the rest of the year.

July Musings of a Sacramento florist

July used to be the month for summer vacations, trips out of town, camping with friends. Here in Sacramento, people long to go out of town where it is a little cooler than 100 degrees F. Naturally, most businesses like the flower shops tend to slow down. After the June weddings, florists like to take it easy, others close shop for a week or two. And since it's supposed to be slow, I allowed my helpers to go on vacation. I am finding out though that business still has to go on, people still have birthdays, anniversaries, boys still mess up so they say sorry to the girls, and people still die. So, here I am, working double time, blowing up balloons, arranging roses, arranging plants in baskets, making silk arrangements, and candy bouquets.

June is for Graduations and Weddings

June is a busy month for graduations and weddings. And so here we are busy each week either making leis, corsages and boutonnieres. It seems leis are favorites for graduations and also small wrapped bouquets custom made with care specially for the graduate and yet we charge the same as the grocery store. Tomorrow we have bridal bouquet, corsages and boutonnieres for an intimate wedding at an LDS church. On Saturday, we have a bridal bouquet, 3 bridesmaids bouquets, 4 corsages, 5 boutonniers, flower girl's flowers and a tossing bouquet for another intimate wedding in Auburn. I had to turn down another wedding because I was already booked for these two small weddings.
There's 3 more weddings to deal with after this weekend and the month will soon be over. Then we will have to deal with the summer heat, hopefully, we will survive the hot days of Sacramento summer.