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Royer’s Columbia store joins parade to kick off Mountville’s bicentennial celebration

Royer's Columbia store and classic delivery van in Mountville bicentennial parade.
Happy 200th Birthday to Mountville, Lancaster County!
The borough kicked off its weeklong bicentennial celebration with a parade on Aug. 2.
Our Columbia store, which serves Mountville, entered Royer’s classic 1969 Ford Econoline delivery van in the procession. Store manager Patti Barclay and her team walked beside the van and handed out 400 carnations to spectators.

With addition of PinnacleHealth, Royer’s serving 11 area hospital gift shops

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In advance of opening West Shore Hospital in May, PinnacleHealth System sought a new floral vendor that could keep up with the growing volume of orders from its three hospital boutique gift shops.
Royer’s Camp Hill store won a multi-year contract to service the new hospital as well as the established Harrisburg Hospital and Community General Osteopathic Hospital. The partnership began April 1.

“It’s just been extremely good the whole time,” said Joan Line, manager for PinnacleHealth Auxiliary.

She works closely with the Camp Hill store’s Holly Newpower, manager, and Aimee Arrowood, assistant manager. Royer’s delivers flowers at various price points to the hospitals every week, but Line also has been impressed with how requests have been accommodated on weekends.
“If a family comes in and wants a special arrangement,” she said, “all we have to do is call Holly and Amy and they will bring it in.”
PinnacleHealth’s gift shops are open 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday to Friday and noon to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.
What’s more, PinnacleHealth Auxiliary’s website includes an online gift shop, and orders placed there are filled by Royer’s. Or if customers buy flowers on Royer’s website that are destined for a PinnacleHealth hospital, Royer’s gives a small percentage of each sale back to PinnacleHealth Auxiliary.
The nonprofit PinnacleHealth Auxiliary manages the three gift shops. All of the proceeds from the gift shops come back to the hospitals to support various programs and services.
Holly, Royer’s manager in Camp Hill, called the PinnacleHealth Auxiliary partnership “a huge deal” for her store.
“More than just selling flowers,” she said, “it’s benefitting the community, too.”
Added PinnacleHealth’s Line: “It’s just a good match.”
Meanwhile, six other Royer’s stores service eight other area hospital gift shops:
East York: Apple Hill Surgical Center
Ephrata: WellSpan Ephrata Community Hospital, Heart of Lancaster Regional Medical Center
Lancaster West: Lancaster General Hospital, Women & Babies Hospital
Lebanon: Good Samaritan Hospital
Reading: Reading Hospital
West York: WellSpan York Hospital
 

Ephrata’s Julia Longenecker wins Royer’s Kids Club birthday card design contest

Ephrata Middle School seventh-grader Julia Longenecker is a swimmer and a basketball player. She loves dogs and reading.
Julia Longenecker
The daughter of John and Sandy Longenecker is pretty fond of drawing, too.
“She draws a little bit of everything,” Sandy said. “She likes to draw pictures of animals, flowers.”
In fact, one of Julia’s flower drawings has earned her another descriptor: winner of Royer’s Flowers & Gifts’ 2014 Royer’s Kids Club birthday card design contest.
Her drawing of a flower-filled vase will grace the electronic card that Royer’s Kids Club members will receive on their birthdays in the coming year. For her effort, she will receive a flower delivery on her birthday.

Royer’s tops ‘Best of Lebanon Valley’ for fourth year in a row

Best of the Lebanon ValleyFor the fourth time in as many years as the Lebanon Daily News has recognized the “Best of the Lebanon Valley,” the newspaper’s readers have voted Royer’s their favorite florist.
Royer’s has always called Lebanon home: Our family-owned business started there in 1937 and operates its flagship store at 810 S. 12th St., Lebanon, and 901 E. Main St., Palmyra.
Overall, Royer’s has 17 stores in Berks, Cumberland, Dauphin, Lancaster, Lebanon and York counties.
“Best of the Lebanon Valley” comprised 114 categories and two rounds of reader participation. Results were announced on June 18.

Royer’s brings annual food drive to Fox 43 Morning News

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Barry Spengler, Royer’s vice president of operations, prepares for his live appearance on Fox 43 Morning News to talk about Royer’s annual food drive, Royer’s Stems Hunger, and to offer some tips on things children can do with flowers this summer.

It’s summertime and the living is easy, the song lyric goes. But life isn’t easy if there isn’t enough food to eat at home.
Royer’s annual food drive — Royer’s Stems Hunger — began in 2011 as a way to address some of that need. The food drive, which this year runs June 20-28, benefits the Central Pennsylvania Food Bank and the Greater Berks Food Bank.
Barry Spengler, Royer’s vice president of operations, visited Fox 43 Morning News today to explain how Royer’s Stems Hunger works. It’s pretty simple: give a nonperishable food item, get a free carnation (up to six per family per visit). Barry told Fox 43’s Amanda McCall that food donations are welcome no matter the quantity.
“Just a little of something is great,” Barry said. “We’ll give you a carnation. Some people say, ‘I don’t even want the carnations.’ Take the carnations. It’s bright for your house.”
To help kick off the food drive, the Royer’s Kids Club is holding a free event on Saturday. Participants ages 5 to 12 will get to make an arrangement — in an empty food can. Call your nearest Royer’s to register; time slots are available at 10 a.m., 2 p.m. and 3 p.m.
Barry showed off some other projects that children can make with flowers at home this summer.
The segment is available here:

2014 Royer’s Kids Club birthday card design contest runs through July 12

This is the kids club's current birthday card, which will be retired this summer. We're looking for the next birthday card design.
This is the kids club’s current birthday card, which will be retired this summer. We’re looking for the next birthday card design.

For children, summer is for getting out of school, swimming, going on vacation.
And entering the 2014 Royer’s Kids Club birthday card design contest, which is open to children ages 5 to 12 in Berks, Cumberland, Dauphin, Lancaster, Lebanon and York counties.
The deadline to enter is July 12.
The winning design will be featured in the email birthday card that every kids club member receives on his or her special day.
The winning artist will receive a free flower delivery on his or her birthday.
The entry form may be downloaded at www.royers.com/kidsclub and dropped off at the nearest Royer’s store.

A thorny problem is solved by our annual May-June rose sale

“It was June, and the world smelled of roses. The sunshine was like powdered gold over the grassy hillside.”
Maud Hart Lovelace, author
Indeed, June is National Rose Month, which coincides conveniently with the fact that roses are abundant this time of year.
That abundance explains why Royer’s has its rose sale every June.
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As everyone knows, roses, especially red ones, are in great demand at Valentine’s Day. Hence, prices go up for florists and customers alike. Even then, however, the law of supply and demand comes into play.
There’s considerably less demand for yellow and orange and white roses, which become more affordable for us and, in turn, for our customers. This Valentine’s Day, we offered a “rainbow” mixed-rose (colors other than red) arrangement with babies breath, valued at $59.99, for $39.99.
A rose farm typically harvests its crop every six to eight weeks. Conveniently after the Valentine’s Day harvest comes the one for Mother’s Day. But while there’s another big crop of roses in late spring, there is not a corresponding holiday to absorb all of those flowers.
So we created our annual rose sale, which this year started May 17 and runs through June 22. We discount rose arrangements by $10 for one dozen and by $20 for two dozen, among other offers.
Yes, in June the world smells of roses.
There’s also the whiff of our annual rose sale in the air.
 
 
 

Don’t let ‘DOGs’ take a bite out of your Mother’s Day order

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Our Google search for “flowers hershey, pa” returned several sponsored links from what appear to be local florists.
On one website, there’s this message: “Hershey, Pennsylvania Flower Delivery by our local florist to Hershey TODAY!”
The owner of that website is in Michigan.
On the home page of another of the websites is this: “Best Hershey, PA Same Day Flower Delivery!” The page lists Hershey-area hotels, schools, funeral homes. It even includes a Hershey weather forecast.
The company behind that website is out of New Jersey.

‘Deceptive order gatherer’

Each of the companies is what is known in the floral industry as an “order gatherer,” or sometimes derided as a “deceptive order gatherer,” or DOG, as described in a recent story in the Philadelphia Inquirer.

They take orders and then broker them to local florists or even ship the flowers (unarranged, of course) via UPS or FedEx. These DOGs, which operate year-round, are hunting for your Mother’s Day order. And if they get it, they’ll likely take a bite out of your wallet that will exceed what you would have paid by working with your local florist to place the order.

The order gatherer will entice you with deals that look great but, upon closer inspection, probably aren’t.
In almost all cases, the order gatherers present their flowers at discounted prices. A tulip bouquet valued at $81.99 is shown as marked down to $44.99, for instance. They also tend to upsell, so that when you select a standard or regular arrangement it defaults to a “deluxe” (read: more expensive) version.

Costly commissions and fees

On one order gather’s website, the home page featured a “best seller” arrangement of lilies, roses and alstroemeria valued at $34.99 but discounted to $27.99. When we clicked on it, our selection instead chose the deluxe version: valued at $44.99 but with a “Google discount” of $9 that put the total at $35.99.
At checkout, there was a $2.99 charge for same-day delivery – and a service/handling fee of $14.99. Our total was $53.97 even with the so-called Google discount.
Order gatherers typically deduct a 20 percent commission and other fees from orders, according to the Inquirer article. So if a flower order is valued at $44.99, that leaves less than $36 for the local florist, who then must deduct his delivery fee. Pretty soon, that $44.99 worth of flowers is maybe only a $28 value or less to the customer.
“It’s a no-win situation,” the Inquirer noted of this practice. The florist “can either fill the full order and lose money, or substitute a cheaper arrangement and risk consumer outrage.”

Let your local florist help

Either way, it might not be a risk worth taking when it comes to the impression you wish to make on the recipient. If you have a strong and trusting relationship with your local florist, then why not let them help you with an out-of-town flower delivery?
Reputable florists will make sure you get the value and quality that you deserve on your long-distance orders. After all, they want to be treated fairly when they are on the receiving end of orders.
The deceptive order gatherers, on the other hand, extract high service and delivery fees – only to hand off the order to someone else.
Another one of the order gatherers we examined offered same-day delivery of a gerbera arrangement valued at $49.99 but discounted to $29.99. Then another offer appeared, lowering the price to $9.99. But a service charge of $19.99 and a handling charge of $10.50 brought the total to $40.48.
The order gatherer won’t earn those fees, and you won’t get what you paid for.
When it comes to flowers, these DOGs aren’t man’s best friend.
 
 

Royer’s joins Fox 43 for ‘Wedding Week’

You’ve found Mr. Right, but understand that there’s no wrong when it comes to your wedding flowers.
That’s the message that Barry Spengler, Royer’s vice president of operations, conveyed during his “Wedding Week” appearance on Fox 43.
Five or 10 years ago, for instance, few brides-to-be would have thought of combining lime green and pink. Not so today.
“If I can get through anything, there’s no wrong,” Barry said, “and, frankly, it looks really cool.”
You can view Barry’s interview with Fox 43’s Andrea Michaels in the two segments below.
Meanwhile, click here for wedding resources on our website.

Rather than national services, call your local florist to get the most bang for your buck on Valentine’s Day: NBC’s “Today”

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

With Valentine’s Day fast approaching, NBC’s “Today” put three national floral delivery services to the test. The results weren’t always pretty, with “Today” concluding that what customers received didn’t always match what they ordered from the 1-800-Flowers, Teleflora and FTD websites.
In the clip above, “Today” consults with a flower expert on the subject of getting the most bang for your buck.
The takeaway? Shop a local florist.
In his introduction, “Today” correspondent Jeff Rossen said: “Here’s tip No. 1: Experts say call your local florist. Most of them deliver. You can say to them, ‘What flowers are fresh today?’ You have that personal communication, so experts say you’re more likely to get what you pay for.”