Posted on Mon, Oct 18, 2010 : 6 a.m.
Ken's Nielsen Flowers closes Ann Arbor store, but sales stay steady via Internet
By Laura Blodgett
Ken’s Nielsen Flowers, located in a former church at 1115 Broadway, closed its Ann Arbor location on Aug. 20 - but other than than, it's business as usual in this market for the company.
The Toledo-based florist still serves Ann Arbor via the Internet and daily deliveries.
“It’s really a changing retail market for the floral business and most of our orders these days are either by phone or internet,” said owner Fred Moore, who owns four floral stores in the Toledo area. “Quite honestly, the traffic we got into the store was not enough to meet the expenses necessary to keep a facility open.”
The former church is now for sale.
Submitted photo
“Even with our phone orders, 75 percent of the people who call us have already been to our website and picked something out,” says Moore. “It’s just the way people shop for flowers now.”
Though they closed the store, they still service the Ann Arbor area through phone and internet orders that go to their main office in Perrysburg, Ohio.
They send a truck up to Ann Arbor daily to make deliveries and can arrange to be here within hours if a special order comes in that needs immediate rush service.
“Many of our customers may not even know that we closed our storefront here," says Moore, who says they maintain large accounts in the local area including individual departments at the University of Michigan and area hospitals.
“We are upfront about it if asked but many people may not have noticed. We continue to serve them through daily deliveries and drop off right to their door, so it’s not a whole lot of difference for many.”
The same product offerings that were available in the store are still available on line. Moore does not plan to expand their floral offerings at this time, preferring instead to focus on its growing gift line.
“We are consistently building our gourmet gifts and special gift incentives,” says Moore. “For Ann Arbor, we do quite a bit of U of M baskets with Wolverine type products.”
Moore, who has been in the floral business since joining Ken’s Flowers in Ohio in 1967, purchased Nielsen’s Flowers in Ann Arbor roughly 10 years ago.
“I was volunteering through St. Vincent de Paul and taking somebody to the VA hospital there. I decided to stop at their store in the former Maiden Lane location and introduced myself to Paul Nielsen. He asked if I would be interested in buying the business.”
Moore purchased the business name and customer list knowing the storefront had already been sold to developers and they would have to move in a matter of few months. Before the building was demolished, he purchased the old Broadway Gift Store, which was a former Baptist church and relocated the floral shop there.
The building is currently available for sale or lease. At 2,268 square feet on the main floor plus additional space on the half level, the asking price is $895,000.
“It’s a beautiful building,” says Bob Andrus of Michigan Commercial Realty, who represents Moore. “It is very beautiful inside with a high vaulted ceiling, great light, open floor plan and great parking.”
Andrus and Moore say there has been quite a bit of interest in the facility.
“It‘s a good location and has a lot of potential depending on how they eventually develop the land across from us,” says Moore.
Since closing the bricks-and-mortar side of the business, the effect on sales has been minimal.
“Not having a storefront has not affected sales to a great extent," Moore said.
Comments
oldblueypsi
Tue, Oct 19, 2010 : 4:21 p.m.
The church, when it was located on Broadway, was known as the Northside Baptist Church. It is now known as Northside Community Church. It is still located on the northside of Ann Arbor (Barton Drive).
jameslucas
Mon, Oct 18, 2010 : 6:44 p.m.
I think it was last a church in 1966 but I'm not sure?
Ann English
Mon, Oct 18, 2010 : 6:10 p.m.
I just never thought that building was ever a church; when I went into it back in the sixties, it was selling used ice skates. Probably several stores used the building between then and now. Another U-M project? Possibly a museum? That's what happened in Dexter with one of their former church buildings on Inverness Street.
jameslucas
Mon, Oct 18, 2010 : 1:57 p.m.
The photo caption reads The former church is now for sale. That should have been your news story. Another retailer closing a store front, and doing business on the internet is sad, but hardly news. But a church closing a store front and doing business on the internet is sad, but at least it would have been news.
81wolverine
Mon, Oct 18, 2010 : 9:54 a.m.
In a way it's a shame, as retail stores like this that have a lot of character are a dying breed. There are so few pure gift shops left. Between the Internet, Big Box stores, and the weak economy, the entire gift business is only a portion of what it used to be. The storefront may be hard to sell/lease until something happens with that field of dirt behind it.
Killroy
Mon, Oct 18, 2010 : 7:32 a.m.
Make way for another UM project!