How florists can flourish

One hundred years ago, a German immigrant named Max Rothe opened a little flower shop on Germantown Avenue in Mount Airy. In the decades since, it has survived war and depression, changing consumer habits, and competition on every front.

Six months ago, great-grandson Herbert B. Rothe 3d took over from his father, Herbert Jr., becoming the fourth generation at the helm of what is an increasing rarity in two respects: Rothe's, at 7148 Germantown Ave., is a thriving retail florist, and it's still family-owned.

"We're opening the next chapter," says the younger Rothe, 39.

And an interesting one it will be.

Rothe Florists has had an unbroken chain since 1908, placing it among the less than 3 percent of family businesses that make it to the fourth generation.

To say nothing of the longevity of family florists. In the 1970s, there were maybe 15 in northwestern Philadelphia and its close-in suburbs alone. Today, there are five, none older than Rothe.

The citywide drop is reflected in the most recent U.S. Census figures: 578 in 1997, 303 in 2002.

Maybe there were too many florists to begin with, and only the fittest now survive. But market and cultural forces also have converged to make today's floral industry as different from Max Rothe's storefront as a car from a horse.

Max sold directly, cash only, to folks who walked in the door. He grew everything but roses himself behind the shop, in 11 glass greenhouses stretching all the way to Cresheim Road. His only competition was the shop down the street and, says Herb Rothe Jr., "the customers were very loyal."

Today, 80 percent of the cut flowers Americans buy are imported from Colombia and Ecuador, along with Asia, the Netherlands, Africa and Canada. And Rothe is down to one greenhouse.

Supermarkets sell more than twice the flowers florists do, industry figures show, and consumers are flower-shopping not just at supermarkets, but also at drugstores, wholesale clubs, and big-box stores, and through Internet services like Teleflora and toll-free order lines.

"Everyone's looking for something new. They're looking for the deal," says Herb Rothe 3d.

Customers like Fran Accetta are the exception now. A bank officer from Chestnut Hill, Accetta has been doing business with the Rothes since her wedding in 1964. She carried white orchids.

Since then, Rothe flowers have been part of all her family's events. "I occasionally pick something up at the supermarket," Accetta says, "but Herb's flowers are always gorgeous, always fresh. I can't rave enough."

Without an army of Accettas, how does a family flower business survive? "As long as you're willing to change, you have a future," says Herb Rothe Jr., semiretired at 69.

Some florists still cater to a crowd whose watches stopped decades ago. But most customers now are savvy and fussy. They want what Martha Stewart has shown them on TV and in her magazines.

"Martha has changed the aesthetic for flowers," says Amy Stewart, no relation, the author of Flower Confidential: The Good, the Bad, and the Beautiful in the Business of Flowers.

Martha floated hellebores in shot glasses and pansies in champagne flutes. She replaced mongrel bouquets with dramatic monochromatic arrangements. "She made it about appreciating the natural beauty of each individual thing," Amy Stewart says.

Rothe Florists heard the call. Two staff designers work with customers "to sell artistry in their arrangements," says Herb Rothe 3d, "something you just can't get at the supermarket or online."

Family florists all sell more than blooms now. Rothe sells soy candles, but you'll find teddy bears, balloons and other products on the shelves, too. Orders come in every which way, payment is mostly plastic, and deliveries are managed through a co-op.

Everything's more elaborate, including prom work, long a mainstay of the business. Wrist corsages, for example, can be fashioned from hydrangea heads, and wrist bands from beads, faux pearls and rhinestones.

"The days of the carnation wrist corsage are gone," says Herb Rothe 3d.

The nuptial trade is different: Couples who marry later and pay for their own weddings often do less with flowers. Death notices frequently say "in lieu of flowers." And with hospital stays averaging five days, patients often are discharged before folks know they're sick.

On the other hand, more holidays (Grandparents Day, St. Stephen's Day) call for flowers. Even nursery schools offer graduations. And industry studies show that, like Europeans, we're beginning to buy more flowers for ourselves, rather than just as gifts.

Amy Stewart has a different, and fascinating, take on the future of businesses like the Rothes'. They should think lettuce, she says. Or shoes.

Lettuce used to mean romaine and iceberg. Along came Alice Waters, Stewart says, and it became cool to "harvest with scissors." Eight dollars a pound for micro baby greens? Bring 'em on.

And how did the shoe industry "get 25-year-old women not making much money to spend hundreds of dollars on shoes with ridiculous heels?" Stewart continues. "By taking their cues from the culture, from Sex and the City."

Florists, too, need to take those cultural cues, she says.

Stewart, who lives in Eureka, Calif., sees signs that local farmers are getting it. They're planting flowers too delicate to ship from a grower in Colombia - old-fashioned sweet peas, for example - and creating unusual bouquets to sell locally. Just like food.

In the process, they're getting a good rotating crop to replenish the soil. They're attracting pollinators and, Stewart says, "they're getting nice, high-profit crops to smooth out the bumps in the agricultural season."

Imagine flowers, already a $6 billion business in the United States, becoming as high-end a status symbol as chocolate, coffee and wine.

"If we bought wine only based on price," Stewart says, "we'd be drinking Two Buck Chuck for the rest of our lives. The flower industry hasn't done anything to teach people to get better flowers and pay more for them."

Herb Rothe 3d seems to be thinking along those lines. Down the road, he sees further winnowing of flower shops as current trends continue. At the same time, he envisions more customers willing to pay a premium for the service, quality and design his family's shop offers.

Dad likes the sound of that. "The flower business is going to be all right," he says.

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