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Woman at floral shop serving a customer

Deliver Extra Convenience to Customers With a Flower Department

Proctor Ace Hardware in Neptune Beach, Florida, offers customers a variety of ways to buy flowers. They can go to the greenhouse and get live plants ready to plant in a garden or flowerpot or head over to the Floral Emporium and have a floral designer arrange cut flowers for a vase. 

Co-owner Steve Proctor says the floral shop pairs well with the hardware store’s lawn and garden department, which includes a nursery and greenhouse. 

The Floral Emporium doesn’t require much floor space, but does have a dedicated floral designer and delivery driver. 

“Our spring selling season usually begins toward the end of February,” Proctor says. “The floral shop gives us a boost in customer traffic around several holidays, like Valentine’s Day.” 

Why do customers often choose Proctor’s flower shop over other options in town? 

“We have a nursery, where our breadth of live plants is many times what a regular florist might have,” Proctor says. “The niche is a great complement to the nursery. We’re also already getting a lot of traffic through the store, so a percentage of those customers will choose us when they buy flowers.” 

About Kate Klein

Kate is profiles editor for Hardware Retailing magazine. She reports on news and industry events and writes about retailers' unique contributions to the independent home improvement sector. She graduated from Cedarville University in her home state of Ohio, where she earned a bachelor's degree in English and minored in creative writing. She loves being an aunt, teaching writing to kids, running, reading, farm living and, as Walt Whitman says, traveling the open road, “healthy, free, the world before me.”

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