Business Is Blooming : At O.C. Chain, Flowers Are Cut-Rate

Like a daisy in a field of dandelions, the flagship store of the budding Flower Warehouse chain stands in an industrial neighborhood amid auto body shops and manufacturing plants.

Owners Barbara and Xavier Kohan say they have found a better way to peddle petals: a do-it-yourself shop where customers cut and arrange flowers themselves.

The goal, Barbara Kohan said, is to sell “big bunches of lovely flowers that are affordable.”

Said chief flower designer Darren Calkins: “We are not intent on making money off labor. We want to make money off flowers.”

While mass merchandisers like Price Club and supermarket chains sell cut flowers on a small scale, the floral industry lacks self-service, deep-discount operations like those that have sprung up in other retail segments.

The floral business is dominated by small shops with limited stock. Customers generally flip through books of photos to select the arrangements they want.

At Flower Warehouse, by contrast, shoppers prowl through barrels of blooms that fill the shop. They select their blooms, then arrange them with advice or help from shop employees.

The Kohans started out in the flower business in 1983 with a single pushcart on the sidewalk outside an Irvine supermarket and a shop in Costa Mesa. Though the pushcart didn’t make much money, the store did well, eventually enabling the couple to open the Flower Warehouse a year ago. Since then, they have added branches in Anaheim Hills, Lake Forest and Signal Hill, and plan to open three more this year.

The Warehouse’s success has not gone unnoticed by others in the industry. Two imitators have popped up in recent months on the same street, and chains such as Conroy’s are watching with interest.

“Any time you have another competitor come into the area, they are going to impact your sales,” said Bill Vavrek, who owns two franchised Conroy’s stores in Costa Mesa.

Barbara Kohan said one of the secrets of Flower Warehouse’s success is its fresh stock. Staff flower arrangers, who dispense advice and put together special occasion arrangements, use only the flowers on hand when an order is filled.

All flowers are bought directly from growers and are not refrigerated.

“The flower industry has mishandled flowers,” Kohan said, adding that blooms tend to wilt quickly when they are taken out of cold storage.

Others in the business dispute her contention. Chemically treated and refrigerated flowers actually last longer, Vavrek said.

But Kohan maintains that buying directly from growers also allows her to save money by avoiding the markups of wholesale flower marts.

Customers apparently like the idea of buying fresh flowers without paying extra to have them arranged, and the Warehouse draws a crowd of not only budget-conscious bargain hunters but also the more affluent.

“They have good prices,” said Santa Ana resident Margarita Solis, a department store clerk.

“They have a better selection,” said another shopper who would not give her name but identified herself as a Corona del Mar resident and the wife of an aerospace industry executive. She has shopped at the Warehouse “a zillion times,” she said as she presented a $100 bill to pay for three bunches of flowers.