The Flower Blog

 

 

 

 

 Early Beginnings  

Prior to 1895, my (3 times) great Aunt Clara, Uncle Al Grande and family owned andoperated John Grande Greenhouse on Grande Avenue between Michigan and 10^th Streets.  In 1895, the greenhouse operation was expanded to include a full service florist shop on the same property:  John Grande and Sons.  In the late 40’s, the retail florist business was moved to a house at 2401 W. Washington Street (near George Washington High School).  In 1951, John Grande and Sons built a new facility at that same location, where it remained for 27 years.  The Gillespie Family, a generation removed from Aunt Clara and Uncle Al, purchased the business in 1960 and changed the name to reflect the current ownership in 1975.

 

 

 

  

The store front is pictured here facing East towards downtown on Washington Street.  The address was 2401 West Washington Street (near George Washington High School) which housed John Grande and Sons until 1978.
This picture of a casket spray was taken in the late 1960's and represents the style of that era.  Jim Gillespie, who owned John Grande and Sons at that time, was well known to his customers for this style of design.  Notice the carnation bloom attached to the end of each ribbon.

 

 

 

 

Two designers are pictured working at the front counter.  It is interesting to note the decor of the day, which has changed a lot. The traditional style of design has remained largely the same through the years.

Flowers For Life

When the business name changed in 1975, my father developed the idea of “Flowers for Life”.  This motto articulated the presence of flowers during the important occasions of our lives: birthdays, anniversaries, weddings, new babies, illness and sympathy expressions- all are enhanced with the gift of flowers.

To celebrate the grand opening of the business with the “new” name, a contest was held in which the winner would receive “Flowers for Life”.  The winning contestant received flowers on the first day of each season (Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter) for over 30 years.  When she passed away, her daughter shared with me how much her mother looked forward to receiving her flowers each season.  Gillespie Florists was honored to be a part of her life for many years.  We are proud to be a part of your life for years to come.

 

Get the flowers for your life! Click below to shop now!

There are a few days in our lives that we can remember exactly where we were and what you were doing. With the 10-year anniversary coming up in a little over a week, it brings back the memories of that day.

I was going to Butler University as well as being a high school senior. I had just gotten out of an early class at Butler and was driving back to my high school when the radio DJ announced the World Trade Centers in New York had been hit by a plane. Honestly, I thought it was a joke. It took a few minutes to realize this was no joke, this was for real.

When I got to school, there was a somber atmosphere.  Every classroom had TV’s on watching the news.  There was no way the teachers would be able to get our minds off the terrible tragedy that went on that day.

I asked my sister, Sarah Gillespie, to tell me about that day because she was working here at Gillespie Florists. 

As was usual every morning, I had the television on the local news, quietly in the background. As I was preparing to head out the door to work, an anchor broke in suddenly with news that a plane had crashed into an office building in New York.

Details were scarce, but it appeared to be a horrible, unthinkable accident. I put my things down and watched the events unfold before my eyes. When the second plane hit the World Trade center, it became apparent to the media that this was no ordinary accident. I became uneasy; worrying what other places might be attacked.

I finally tore myself away from my television set because I was 20 minutes late leaving for work. When I got into my car, I turned on the radio to continue listening to the latest on the events unfolding that day. As I traveled, I heard about the plane crashing into the pentagon. Suddenly, I was overcome with fear that the plane flying above me might suddenly crash into a building here in Indianapolis!

When I got to work, surprisingly, the two or so people who had come in “on time” were not aware of what was happening on the East Coast. We turned on the radio so we could all listen together. We worried, waited and prayed as more details came across the airwaves. We do not have a television set in the store but someone brought one from their home during their lunch break so we could listen and see what was going on all around us. Once the planes were grounded, it was oddly quiet, as our store is located within a few miles of the airport. There was less traffic. It was very eerie and stayed that way for a few days beyond the attacks.

We have no record of any sales that day… we did have deliveries that were previously scheduled that we delivered, but no actual new sales in the twelve hours that we were open. Only one sale the next day (the 12th) and no sales again on the 13th.

We at Gillespie Florists want to thank all of the firemen, police officers and other emergency crews who risked their lives to save others.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to the families who lost loved ones on that day. 

Where were you on 9/11? We’d like to know. Leave a comment on our blog.

Did you know?

Did you know people use our design tables and cooler? This is a world of DIY and we love to help! Our customers can save anywhere from 20 – 50% off the designed price on flowers when they buy them “Take Out”.

 

What is Take-Out?

Take out flowers are flowers customers pick out of our current stock from our 500 sq ft cooler. We wrap the flowers in cellophane and the customer takes the flowers home to vase.  But sometimes our customers are on their way to the hospital, special occasion or event and want to have the flowers vased before they get to their destination. They will bring their own vase and use one of our design tables to create their bouquet.

*Our designers are happy to give tips and tricks for your first DIY; however they cannot design the bouquet for you!*

 

I’m in Over My Head!

Sometimes we can have great ideas and want to "DIY" but things just aren't turning out the way we want them too. Don't worry; if your masterpiece is looking more like a master mess then you can still pay to have one of our designers to make something beautiful!  

 

DIY Weddings

Brides need to stretch their dollar a lot further these days and a great way to do that is to buy “Take Out” flowers and use our design space to create the wedding flowers. Usually because the bride is very busy the day of the wedding, she will come in with her bridesmaids and create her wedding flowers the day before the wedding and then store her flowers overnight in our cooler and send someone to pick them up. 

Some brides pay a small fee to have a designer spend a dedicated hour with them to teach them how to create her bridal bouquet, corsages and boutonnières!  Read more about our DIY Wedding flowers here!

Want to book your DIY Wedding flowers? Click below to contact our Wedding Specialist!

 

When I have time to relax and watch a little TV, I love to watch House Hunters! My husband loves to make fun of me for it because we are not moving but I love looking at houses! I love to see the prospective buyers talk about the potential in the home and what they might like to do with the property. I also love to disagree with those buyers and think about what I might do instead.  My favorite part of the show is to try and guess which house they will choose! 

Recently I watched an episode titled: Single in Seattle. It’s about a stylish single guy looking for a very small one-bedroom, one-bath place and he was looking in the downtown Seattle area. He had a crazy budget of $450,000 and I thought for sure he was allowing way too much money. But once they started showing properties, I soon learned prices are much higher in Seattle than they are here in corn filled Indiana.

The property I liked the best was a houseboat. It actually seemed to be very open and airy. But what made it so inviting was a vase of Stargazer lilies sitting on a table in the living area.  It was simple and beautiful! The owner of the house probably just stopped by their local flower shop picked up 3 or 4 stems of Stargazers and popped them into the vase. No greens, no accent flowers, no fuss! It made me wish I had smellevision!

Isn’t it amazing how something so simple can change a room? You don’t have to be having an open house to get flowers! Stop in to your local florist and pick up some flowers to give a room in your house a completely different feel…and smell!

Don’t have time to stop in? No worries! We’ll bring the flowers to you! Just click below to select your room changing bouquet!

  “Well, that’s what you get….”

That was the response given by the package delivery person to the patient at St. Francis Hospital in Beech Grove, Indiana when he observed the broken pottery pictured here.

Upon receipt of their package, the patient insisted the parcel carrier make a notation of the broken container.  However, the patient must have felt unsure of the outcome of his complaint because I received a call from him claiming that the dish garden (planter) he received from Gillespie Florists was broken.

While on the phone with the patient, I put in and order for a replacement of this planter; not knowing at the time it was not our product. I noticed during the call that indeed an order was placed by one of our corporate clients.   When our driver arrived there to replace it, I received another phone call from my driver.   Although our dish garden was in the room, with the yellow daisies and ribbon in a wicker basket as described by a member of our design staff on the order, the patient insisted that the planter in a broken ceramic container wrapped tightly in saran wrap complete with a black and gold card was ours! Because an order had been placed by our client and I had already committed to the replacement of the product (even though it wasn’t our product), I instructed my delivery person to leave the replacement planter and return to the store with the damaged product from the drop ship florist.

Whether you are a florist doing business with a “drop ship” program as this was, or a consumer looking for convenience, value, savings, or responding to incessant pop-ups or radio ads instead of using a traditional florist, you will most likely experience a feeling of:

“Well, that’s what you get…”

If you want to send something special to a loved one, be sure to call your local florist. Your local florist will work hard to earn your confidence and will add the personal touch no drop shipped product ever could.

Gillespie Florists always adds a personal touch to each design. Click below to see our custom products!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Vote for Us!

The A-List Competition is on! Help us get voted THE BEST FLORIST IN THE INDIANAPOLIS AREA! As an added bonus, if you vote for us and bring in proof of the vote you can save 20% off your next $10.00 (or greater) IN-STORE purchase.

Here is How:

Go to:

http://wrtv.cityvoter.com/gillespie-florists/biz/93649

Click on [Vote for Us]

Complete the short registration form.

If you are a new account on the A-List you will have to go to your e-mail and confirm that it is you on the Indy Channel A-List e-mail in your inbox.

If you have an A-List account, log in and vote for us!

Once your confirmation page pops up and says you voted, print that page and bring it in to us for your discount!

Contest Ends: Aug. 19th

 

We proudly tell customers daily that we get flowers from all around the world.  That doesn’t mean we don’t get flowers from right here in Indiana! In the spring we get tulips and daffodils. During the summer we get a large assortment of flowers from local growers! The great thing is, not only are we able to get flowers that we can also get in winter months out of state but we can also get flowers native to Indiana only and would not be able to get them at any other time of year!
 

I made a short video for you to show you what we got from one of our local growers this week. But every week they have different things available so don’t think that’s all we’ve got! You’ll just stop in the store every week to see what’s new! Of course we are also carrying our regular stock of fresh flowers so there is always tons of variety!  You'll also notice a picture of my English Bulldog named Pearl! She comes to work with me on most Saturdays and Loves kids!


We also buy many of our plants locally.  Such as green houseplants and blooming plants. Like poinsettias at Christmas, Mums in the fall and hanging baskets in the spring! 


We use some of our local flowers in many of the Summer Bouquets! Check them out now!

What do dogs have to do with the days of summer????

The dog days of summer refer to the time of year that the days are long and unbearably hot.  They respond by lying around all day panting and waiting for the heat and haze of the day to fade into evening cool.  

 

 

Unlike dogs, we cannot afford this behavior.  Don't just lie down and take it!  Try a refreshing and exhilarating walk through our 500 square foot cooler at Gillespie Florist's.  Not only will your temperature be dropped but you will also be surrounded by incredible beauty and the mixed natural scents of several varieties of flowers.  This temperature is maintained at a perfect 36 degrees to keep all the flowers from around the world at their peak of freshness.  

While you take this leisurely stroll you may wish to pick a few to take home to your kitchen table.  A cool reminder that even though it may be hot and dismal outside; bright colors and sweet fragrance of fresh flowers will always brighten your day. Drop by our store today for a visit and leave the laying around to the dogs!

Don't have time to stop by? Check out our great summer bouquets on our website!

 

Here at Gillespie Florists we LOVE Gerbera Daisies! They are so versatile, come in tons of colors and just make you want to smile! Customers love them too! Every week, we sell hundreds of them!

We offer two different sizes in Gerbera Daisies: Mini Gerberas and Regular Gerberas. For short we call the Gerbs!
Customers love to come into our 500 square foot walk in cooler and hand pick their Gerbs. Sometimes they will mix the Gerbs with other flowers or just get all Gerbs. My favorite combination is mixing Gerbera daisies with regular daisies. Regular daisies are much smaller than a Gerb and are less expensive. So, That is a great way to get a big colorful bouquet without breaking the bank!
  Because Gerbs come in an infinite number of colors, if you are looking for a specific one, you may want to give us a call and see if we have them in stock or if we can order them in for you.

The Gerbera Daisy is the type of flower to lift your mood! Which is probably why people like them so much! We use them in weddings all the time! Then it makes an easy choice for husbands if they want to get a small pick me up for their wife in years to come because I think there will always be Gerbera Daisies!

Check out this great video I took yesterday of all the colors of Gerbera Daisies we had in stock! It's hard to believe there is so much variety on any given day but here at Gillespie Florists, There Is!

Click below to check out bouquets with Gerbera Daisies!

Delivery charges 

When I joined the company as a full time staff member in 1969 we didn’t have a delivery charge.  We expensed all costs related to delivery along with all other corporate expenses.  Therefore, each and every customer whether taking a product out the front door or having us deliver it across town would contribute to the payment of those expenses. 

Over the years as wages, fuel, floral products, insurance, taxes, vehicles, maintenance etc. have increased to such an extent that we felt the costs could not be shared by all customers so we decided to direct the delivery expenses to those using the service.

I am amazed at the acceptance of the fees charged by the package delivery industry.

Consumers willing pay delivery fees in excess to our delivery charge for an item to be delivered within 3 days. 

We’ve experienced resistance to our standard delivery to deliver a product within an 8 hour time frame.

Recipient Phone Number

Here at Gillespie Florists we try to secure a phone number for the recipient from our client.  If there is no answer at a residence, it is our policy to us a company cell phone to contact the recipient.  Many times the recipient is at a location in the house or apartment that they cannot hear the knock at the door and/or the doorbell but hear the phone that is nearby.  If there would be no one at home, generally there is an answering machine or voice mail available to leave a message for the recipient.  In addition, we leave a Call Tag at the door advising of the delivery attempt.   The tag may not be seen because many people enter through their attached garage using a garage door opener.

The Doorstep Problem

Another delivery related issue.  The package industry leaves items at the doorstep.

In my opinion that is unacceptable in our industry.  Our products are perishable, weather conditions and animals could destroy our product.  People could see and remove the product from its location.  The recipient might never see our product because they do not use that particular entrance or they could be out of town for days leaving the product in an inappropriate environment.

Buy Flowers with a Real Local Florist! Click Below!