Conroy’s May Team With Major Flower Wholesaler

Conroy’s, the Culver City-based franchiser of flower shops, has undergone a change of ownership that may put the company in partnership with a national flower wholesaler.

Conroy’s President Carter Miller said he and his partner, Stanley Schwartz, bought out the two other owners in mid-September.

In connection with the sale, Melridge Inc., a flower wholesaler headquartered in Aurora, Ore., said Thursday that it has obtained an option to buy a “substantial interest” in Conroy’s.

Option on ‘Significant’ Stake

Melridge Controller Lou Jaffe said the company was given the option after it loaned Miller and Schwartz $3.4 million to buy out partners Arthur Burdof and David Rosen. The four purchased the company last December from the estate of founder Christopher Conroy.

Jaffe and Miller declined to say how much stock the option would allow Melridge to buy, but Miller said the stake would be “a significant but non-controlling interest in the company.” Melridge will make a decision on whether to exercise the option after the first of the year, Miller said.

Miller said the teaming of Conroy’s and Melridge, one of the nation’s largest flower wholesalers, would help Conroy’s expansion plans by giving the company access to “the right quality product at the right place and the right time.”

Expansion Plans

Conroy’s has 75 flower shops, of which 10 are company-owned, primarily in Southern California. The company plans to add 10 to 15 stores in Northern California and eight to 12 stores in the Dallas-Fort Worth area in the next two years, Miller said.

“We’re trying to look five and 10 years into the future,” he said.

Miller said he and Schwartz bought out their partners because “they had some other interests and things they wanted to do. . . . We’ve all been in business together before.”

Conroy’s, a privately held company, had sales of nearly $40 million last year, Miller said. Melridge, whose stock is traded over the counter, had net income of $2.4 million on sales of $16.5 million for the year ended July 31, 1985.