🌸 Petals, Passion, and Perseverance: The Story of Smith’s Flowers & Gifts
Episode 197 • 31st January 2025 • Total Michigan • Cliff Duvernois
00:00:00 00:26:00

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What does it take to keep a family business thriving for over 75 years?

In this episode of Total Michigan, we step into the world of floristry with Mark Smith, third-generation owner of Smith’s Flowers & Gifts in Midland, Michigan. From its humble beginnings in 1947 to becoming a beloved community institution, Smith’s Flowers is a testament to resilience, innovation, and the enduring power of family legacy.

🌸 In this episode, you’ll discover:

  • The secrets to a lasting family business â€“ How Smith’s Flowers has navigated generational challenges and industry shifts.
  • The art and emotion behind floristry â€“ Why flowers are more than just decorations and how they mark life’s biggest moments.
  • The power of reinvention â€“ How Mark has embraced change, from sourcing global flowers to supporting local artists.

Join us for an inspiring conversation about passion, perseverance, and the ever-blooming journey of Smith’s Flowers & Gifts.

Links:

Smith's Flower and Gifts: http://smithsflowers.com/

2909 Ashman St., Midland, MI 48640 USA

📞 (989)-631-0470

Subscribe to our Email Newsletter: https://totalmichigan.com/join/

Find us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/totalmichigan

Watch on YouTube: https://youtube.com/@totalmichigan

Show Notes:

00:00 Introduction

01:01 Meet Mark Smith: Owner of Smith's Flowers and Gifts

02:00 Unique Offerings and Local Art

03:26 Challenges and Family Dynamics

13:33 The Language of Flowers

20:06 Changes in the Floral Industry

22:45 Tips for Flower Care

25:00 Conclusion and Contact Information

Transcripts

Mark Smith:

I just enjoyed the, for lack of a better word, the trials.

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And having to come up with creative

ideas and a way to do things differently,

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and interpret what the customer is

actually saying, even though they don't

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know what they're saying, makes sense.

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And it just, the love of the, of the

diversity that Flowers offer us and

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the ability to change people's lives.

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Cliff Duvernois: Hello everyone.

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And welcome back to Total Michigan,

where we interview ordinary Michiganders

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doing some pretty extraordinary things.

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I'm your host, Cliff DuVernois.

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I'm actually really excited about

today's episode because we're getting

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an opportunity to explore something

that we've never explored on the show.

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We've covered restaurants and

museums, and we've talked about

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parks and everything else like that.

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We have never once visited a florist.

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And I'm in the city of Midland and of

course doing research in the area and

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finding, businesses that have been

around for a while, businesses that

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are doing something absolutely unique

is actually how I found today's guest.

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And to help us unpack the very

interesting story family story about

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this business would be Mark Smith.

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And he is the owner of Smith's

Flowers and Gifts located in Midland.

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Mark, how are you?

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I'm pretty good.

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How are you?

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I'm doing awesome.

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Thank you for asking.

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So why don't you tell us really quick,

what is Smith's flowers and gifts?

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Mark Smith: In a nutshell, we're the

oldest family owned florist in Michigan.

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Well, maybe not Michigan,

Midland for sure.

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Maybe the Tri Cities.

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And, uh, we started in 1947 and we

moved into this building in:

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And I'm third generation.

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That puts us in the, 13th

percentile for survivors.

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Yes, that's right.

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And, my daughter is here also, and she

puts her in the third, three percent.

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Which would be fourth generation.

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Fourth generation, yeah.

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We've been here going strong

and doing it different.

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I guess is a way to look at it.

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Cliff Duvernois: So here you sell

flowers, but you also, it looks like

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you have a bunch of like knickknacks.

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Cause I saw like some really

nice wood carving coffee mugs.

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Mark Smith: Yep.

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flowers and plants is

the bulk of the business.

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And it didn't always used to be that way.

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It used to be get diamonds and gold

and all sorts of things, but most

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of the merchandise or a good portion

of the quote unquote merchandise is

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on consignment from local artists.

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Oh, okay.

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Like all the wood and the

pottery and all that is locally

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made right here in Midland.

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Most of it.

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It's in here on consignment and

comes and changes all the time.

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Comes and goes and right.

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Goes from there.

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And it was, I think we started pre

COVID to give artists an outlet

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because there was really no place.

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I mean, you go to a, craft show or

something and sell your stuff on

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the weekend, but you don't have any

place to display it where the public

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just passes through constantly.

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And it started out real small, got

real big, and now it's leveled off to a

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certain flow and it's been a good thing

going both ways for us and for them.

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Cliff Duvernois: I'd like to explore

that a little bit more, but before we

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jump into that, why don't you tell us

a little bit about where are you from?

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Where did you grow up?

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Mark Smith: uh, born

and raised in Midland.

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Okay.

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I've been here on that all my life

because I, I got fired a couple

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of times and I quit a few times.

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You mean you got fired from this shop?

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Yeah.

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My, you know, it's hard in a

family business is really tough.

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Because it is, you have say

two generations and they

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bicker about how to do things.

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When I started, I was a third

generation in the building.

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So my grandpa and I used

to butt heads all the time.

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Oh, wow.

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Cause I was always coming up with

quicker, easier ways to do things.

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And he was still stuck in the, no,

we've always done it this way thing.

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Cliff Duvernois: Right.

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Mark Smith: And it was a challenge

putting my dad in the middle between us.

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I feel like play referee having

to pick sides and it didn't

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work out real well a few times.

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So yeah, I got, I got

fired a couple of times.

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And I quit a couple of

times and came back.

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And I've been here basically 52 years.

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Sweet Moses.

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I'm only 70.

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So, well, you still got a long ways to go.

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I do.

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I hope not.

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I'm hoping I'm out of here soon, but

it's a, it's a love hate relationship.

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I mean, I love, I really love what we do.

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Right.

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being able to work with

basically God's paintbrushes.

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Oh, that's beautiful.

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I love that and make

arrangements for other people.

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And we cover all the, highs and

lows of life, basically births

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and deaths and of course, and all

that and everything in between.

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Cliff Duvernois: So that's interesting.

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So you literally are a part of people's

journey, whether it's buying them

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something for like, let's say engagement,

maybe actually earlier than that.

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You're right.

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Cause you before that, yeah.

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Like prom.

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Prom and high school kids coming

in for prom and oh my goodness.

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Yes.

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Mark Smith: Trying to get

her to go on the first date.

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Cliff Duvernois: Trying, you know,

make that first good impression

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with the parents and stuff.

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Showing up with the flowers.

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Show up with flowers for mom, not for her.

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Yes.

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that's fast way for brownie points.

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Yeah.

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Mark Smith: Yeah.

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And it works.

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I keep telling guys.

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Trust me on this.

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Just trust me because it does work.

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Yeah.

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I've got years of telling it,

seeing it work, you know, it's

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always interesting when they come

back and say, wow, you're right.

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Cliff Duvernois: Scored

major brownie points.

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Yeah.

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Mark Smith: Yeah.

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Yeah.

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So we've been here, since 1947.

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Cliff Duvernois: Now this was something

that your, you said your grandfather

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and your father started this business.

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Mark Smith: Yeah.

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Right after.

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My, my grandpa worked in a bomber plant

during World War II, down in Detroit,

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and they lived in Wayne, Michigan, on

the river, and he grew delphinium as a

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hobby, and sold it to local flower shops.

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And after the war got over, my

great grandparents already lived

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here in Michigan, or Midland.

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they started looking around wanting

to get out of Detroit, so on and

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so forth, and, uh, decided to come

up here and start from scratch.

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Right.

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And that's what they did.

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At the time, they were only the

second flower shop in Midland.

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They kind of got their start.

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from the other flower shop

saying, Oh, we're too busy.

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Go, go over to these guys.

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And that's how it got started.

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And then there was the Dow plane

crash, which killed a lot of the Dow

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family and stuff back in the day.

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And that started the whole thing

going, and that's how we got into with

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Alden Dow to design this building.

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Right.

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Cause it, and that's

just tumbled from there.

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Cliff Duvernois: Kept going.

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For our audience, what he was talking

about there for Alden Dow, we actually

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have an episode coming up where we dive

a lot deeper into Alden Dow's background.

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One of the famous architects.

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Yes, that was worldwide,

worldwide designed over 600

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homes, buildings, whatever.

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So that's, that's really amazing there.

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Now, the question I got for you,

because you were talking before about,

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you know, your grandfather and your

father starting this business, did

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they ever say why they wanted to get

into, you know, Running a flower,

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Mark Smith: Not really.

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That's kind of the, that's kind of

the, um, shadowy area of the family.

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We don't really know.

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We don't really know

exactly why and how, right.

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And I've asked my dad over the years

a few times and it just, it blossomed

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from, like I said, he was growing

delphinium and got out with forest

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in the Southern part of the state.

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And when they moved up here,

it was just, A natural thing, I

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guess, for them to continue on.

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You know, My dad, myself, my grandpa

never went to school for this business.

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My grandma did as far as floral

design goes, but then she

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really didn't do any of it.

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So she'd be the one to say, pointing

out in the book, no, you do it this

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way, It just blossomed from there.

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It did.

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Right.

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There was no shining light moment that,

okay, this is what we're going to do.

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I think it just, happened.

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Right.

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So at that time we were the second

poorest in town and, here ever since.

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Actually back to Alden Dow, this was

the first retail building he ever did.

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So that's, and the first church

is right next door that he did.

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Oh, that's cool.

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Yeah, we're right here in the same area.

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Cliff Duvernois: Yeah.

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Because the one thing I, I

really appreciate this store,

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first off, is the size.

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Right.

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Yeah.

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This place is huge.

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It's big.

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But the multi levels to it.

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Again, usually when I see it going

to have like a floral shop, it's

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very small, very small footprint.

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Usually have some kind of a refrigerated

case where they keep, primarily roses.

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Yeah.

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And that's it.

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But here it's this place is big.

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Mark Smith: Yeah.

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We're at, if you count all the floors

and everything, we're at 7, 500 square

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feet, which is pretty good size for

any retail establishment nowadays

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that you're not in the mall, you know?

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We are blessed to have

the space that we do.

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It's a, it's a unique place.

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I mean, how many other fish

ponds have you seen in indoors?

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Right?

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None.

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And that's an original feature of

the design, you know, that it's one

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of the original, original features.

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And they were weird back then.

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They, this place was designed

with gravel floor, pea gravel.

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Okay.

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Downstairs on the first floor.

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Yeah.

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But if you think about back in

the fifties, all women wore high

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heels all the time and walking in

gravel just didn't make any sense.

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And then there was supposed to be

bird cages with parakeets around

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the place and who wants to change.

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Bird cages every day, all day,

you know, so those two things got

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scratched from the original plans.

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and this is what we have.

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And it's, it's changed

some over the years.

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Um, I mean, this floor where we're

sitting right now, we used to all be

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diamonds and gold and in crystal, we

used to pawn shopper, just a gold and

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silver store or just retail retail.

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Okay.

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All right.

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I mean, it was basically

before pawn shops.

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Right.

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Okay.

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I know pawn shops have always been

around, but no, this was straight retail.

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We'd bring in diamonds and stuff out

of New York and we used to carry 150

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different patterns of dinnerware.

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Oh, you know, back in the day when

brides registered for, now they register

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at Target or Home Depot or somewhere,

they didn't go to a specialty store.

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Correct.

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Um, like I did back in the 60s and 70s.

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And, uh, so that's changed some.

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We got out of that part of it and focused

more on the everyday life, you know.

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Sure.

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And after my dad retired and things

kept moving along and I pared it

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down and went with my love, which

is the flowers and the plants.

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And the rest of it I really don't.

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Partake and that's, that's

other people's problem.

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Cliff Duvernois: So, so let

me ask you this question here

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because growing up, right?

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So like you said, you got your grandfather

and your father's running the store.

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You decided to jump into

the family business.

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Why not do something

easier like brain surgery?

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Mark Smith: Well, it would have

been actually, actually I did.

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I thought, well, I'm going to do this.

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And I, and I enlisted in the Navy.

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Oh my goodness.

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And talk about an adventure.

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That was when I was 19.

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And I thought I'm getting out of Midland.

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I'm was this one of the

times you got fired?

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No, I got fired.

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So I'm going to join the Navy.

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This was just a.

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I'm going to join the

Navy and get out of here.

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Okay.

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Well, I qualified for a nuke subschool.

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Ooh.

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But then I got a medical

discharge before I even got in.

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And that was the end of that.

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So I'm back here and I stayed for

ever since, you know, I've been.

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Been here a long time

and I enjoy it every day.

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I don't mind coming to work.

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Cliff Duvernois: So what is

it in particular about flowers

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that attracted you to them?

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Mark Smith: The fact that it's

working with nature every day.

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And I just enjoyed the, for lack

of a better word, the trials.

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And having to come up with creative

ideas and a way to do things differently,

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and interpret what the customer is

actually saying, even though they don't

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know what they're saying, makes sense.

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And it just, the love of the, of the

diversity that Flowers offer us and

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the ability to change people's lives.

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You know, and that's a big part of it.

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doing the.

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funerals for one.

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it's a sad situation, but

if you can make it better.

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Cliff Duvernois: There's

something beautiful.

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Big part of it.

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Yes.

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For our audience.

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We're going to take a break

and thank our sponsors.

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Once again, this is Cliff DuVernois.

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You're listening to Total Michigan.

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And with me today is Mark Smith of Smith's

Flowers and Gifts located in Midland,

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and we will see you after the break.

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Are you enjoying this episode?

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Well, I can tell you

there's a lot more to come.

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Hello, everyone.

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Welcome back to Total Michigan, where

we interview ordinary Michiganders

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doing some pretty extraordinary things.

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I'm your host, Cliff DuVernois.

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Today, we're talking all

things flowers with Mark Smith.

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He is the owner of

Smith's flowers and Gifts.

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And Mark, I saw this in a movie

once and I always wondered if it

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was true, but the characters in the

movie were actually talking about how

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there's like a language to flower.

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So if you, for instance, because a lot

of people think that if you want to say

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I love you, you give them a rose, right?

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Or, maybe, um, tulips have this

other message that can be sent.

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Is there any truth to that at all?

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Mark Smith: Some some okay.

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There's some truth to that.

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Typically red roses are for love and

yellow are for friendship white are

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for purity and and so on and so forth

then you get into daisies and iris

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and tulips and whatnot in Most of

them don't have a specific meaning.

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Okay, except for the color of roses.

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But the problem with that is I've got

three or four different lists that

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say three or four different things.

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So you, it's whatever you

need it to say, right?

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and go from there.

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And people come in and they say,

well, I want this, that, and the

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other thing I said, well, it really

doesn't go real well together.

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You know, you don't want

to put red roses in with.

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With, orange, whatever, you know,

but that is changing nowadays.

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People don't really pick that much,

but when they come in and they explain

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to you what they want and you try and

interpret what they want and they say,

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no, no, no, it's not that, you know, and

then we come up with something that is

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mutually agreeable and go from there.

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So let's explore that a little bit.

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Well, sometimes, sometimes you don't

want your name on stuff, right?

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I don't want people to know it came from

here, but right, it ends up happening.

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Cliff Duvernois: So let's talk about that

a little bit for a second, because if

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somebody does come through the door and

they're talking about feelings, do you

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have something in your head where like,

if somebody came in and said, Oh, you

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know what, it's for a 50th anniversary,

and the, the couple, they just moved to

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Michigan or whatever it is, do you like

in your head say, okay, so this is be,

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this would be this kind of flower here.

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And if it's because it's his

50th, maybe we should look at.

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this color here, do you

do any of that at all?

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Or is it just, I mean,

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Mark Smith: okay.

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50th anniversary is, is gold, right?

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So the yellow roses or other yellow

flowers typically then 25th is platinum.

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So you'd go with white probably.

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Other than that, I mean,

Sweet 16 is pinks for girls.

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Sure.

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and not necessarily pink roses,

but a combination of different

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kinds of pink flowers, you know,

to give it more, more of a modern.

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Take on things, it's changed

over the years where, yeah, a

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dozen roses was really important.

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Well, now it's not so much that it's more

of a variety of different things, right?

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And the traditions have kind

of just gone by the wayside,

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Cliff Duvernois: Now has anybody ever

come in here and put something together

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and you've worn them up and down left

and right That's gonna be hideous.

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It's gonna be ugly.

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I'm not gonna ask you to name any names.

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Mark Smith: No, I won't

do that It's happened.

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Yeah, I mean a lot of times we're

in a A good situation with our

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customers for the most part.

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I mean, I haven't been here so long,

and I, and you keep getting new

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customers, which is a blessing, but

most of our regulars, for lack of a

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better term, just trust us to do what

we think's best and go from there.

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I would say 80 to 85 percent

of our orders are open orders

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that don't specify anything.

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Oh, okay.

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So we just do what we

like and, it's worked out.

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Cliff Duvernois: Let's talk about

the decision here, because I love

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this before you were talking about

it with, with your decision to

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start bringing in local artists.

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And having them display now, is

that something that you brought

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in after your father retired?

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Or was that something that's been

a part of the store from the start?

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Mark Smith: No, it's only

been since dad retired.

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He's, he's been 95 next month

and, uh, he retired at 80.

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So that was 15 years.

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Well, no, 70, 25 years ago.

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Cliff Duvernois: Right.

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Mark Smith: it was a product born out of.

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The economy how things were slowing down

and slowing down, not because of COVID.

385

:

This is pre COVID right in, the housing

crunch, you know, eight stuff like that.

386

:

And people were not

shopping like they used to.

387

:

And I had a few friends that were

artists, metal sculptors and stuff like

388

:

that, that we're having a hard time.

389

:

And we thought, well, let's do a collab

here and, bring, give them space.

390

:

You know, and it was

filling up our shelves.

391

:

We didn't have to spend money on the

inventory and we take just a percentage

392

:

and gave them space to do it too.

393

:

And it's worked out

really well since then.

394

:

So

395

:

Cliff Duvernois: nice.

396

:

And one thing I do want to talk about

too is, you, you mentioned before

397

:

about like when your father retired.

398

:

Did he give you any advice when

you started taking over the show?

399

:

Mark Smith: You know, thinking

back, I guess not really.

400

:

Cliff Duvernois: Okay.

401

:

Mark Smith: Because he gave

me all that advice in the 25

402

:

years that we worked together.

403

:

Oh, there you go.

404

:

Yes.

405

:

Yes.

406

:

Yes.

407

:

Having been in the same place

for so long together and.

408

:

Learning how to do things the way

he did and then doing them my own

409

:

way and just that kind of just

Overrode his ways over time, right?

410

:

It wasn't a drastic light switch moment.

411

:

Everything changed.

412

:

right and it started to evolve to

when I started hiring people To

413

:

work for me and not for him, right?

414

:

And it just evolved over a couple

of decades where it just washed

415

:

itself out and did it different.

416

:

Sure.

417

:

Just kind of carried on.

418

:

So we'd been moving right along

and, and now it's the same

419

:

thing with me and my daughter.

420

:

She's doing it different than I did, And

I kind of have to bite my tongue and say,

421

:

no, you can, you know, let her soar or

fall one or the other on her own, you

422

:

know, and that's what happened to me.

423

:

And I made a lot of mistakes, but

I also made some changes that were

424

:

good and it's all, we're still here.

425

:

So.

426

:

Plan to be here for another

generation, hopefully.

427

:

Be fun to be, because she's got three

daughters, so it'd be fun to have,

428

:

a fifth generation at some point.

429

:

You want to talk about rare,

430

:

Cliff Duvernois: a fifth

generation family owned

431

:

Mark Smith: business.

432

:

I think there we're getting

down to the half percent.

433

:

Somewhere in there.

434

:

Cliff Duvernois: So she has expressed

an interest in taking over the shop.

435

:

Yeah.

436

:

Oh, cool.

437

:

Yeah.

438

:

Mark Smith: She's, she's going to, I say

I'm going to retire and I say I retired

439

:

four years ago, but I'm still here.

440

:

So

441

:

not as much as I used to be, but,

at holidays, of course, but other

442

:

than that, one or two, three days

a week, that's about it for me.

443

:

But,

444

:

Cliff Duvernois: you know, for the

number of years that you've been

445

:

in your business, is there anything

that really stands out to you as

446

:

like some of the biggest changes

that you've seen maybe in the, in

447

:

the floral business for us ourselves?

448

:

Mark Smith: Yeah.

449

:

I mean, back in the day, a lot of the

stuff product wise flower wise, was grown

450

:

in the U S and like back in the sixties.

451

:

And so can.

452

:

Colorado grew all the carnations

in the world, just about.

453

:

Oh, wow.

454

:

Okay.

455

:

You know, and that's diversified now.

456

:

We're, we get flowers in every day.

457

:

And Ecuador, Colombia, Peru,

Italy, the Netherlands, of course.

458

:

That's mind blowing.

459

:

I did not know that was a thing.

460

:

Yeah.

461

:

It's an, it's a worldwide

commodity exchange, basically

462

:

in the flower business.

463

:

Cliff Duvernois: Holy smokes.

464

:

So I gotta say this cause everywhere

I've walked in here, the flowers

465

:

have been absolutely beautiful.

466

:

Somehow they make it to your store.

467

:

Somebody cuts them, picks them, whatever

it is, puts them on an airplane.

468

:

Yep.

469

:

And they fly them here.

470

:

Yep.

471

:

And they still look this

472

:

good.

473

:

Mark Smith: Into Miami.

474

:

Everything comes, everything from

South America comes in through Miami.

475

:

And we get a lot of California product.

476

:

We get a lot of our, the stuff that we

use here personally, we get out of Canada.

477

:

That's one thing that's changed over the

years where you're outsourcing or sourcing

478

:

product from all over the world, really,

you know, it's always spring somewhere.

479

:

Cliff Duvernois: It always is.

480

:

So let me see this question here.

481

:

Like what's the most exotic

thing you got in the shore.

482

:

Mark Smith: Today?

483

:

I would say it's probably the orchids

and stuff that we have downstairs,

484

:

but then there's like hydrangeas,

which are one of my favorite.

485

:

Flowers to use, and that's what, that's

one of the bigger things that has changed

486

:

over the years product last so much better

now than it used to, because it's so taken

487

:

care of so much better in shipping and

in processing when we get it, we're doing

488

:

stuff nowadays that we didn't do 10 years

ago and it just changes the longevity

489

:

for one, the variety that's available.

490

:

Cool.

491

:

For another, it gets maddening because

I have suppliers that send me sheets

492

:

and there'll be 500 items on a sheet.

493

:

Well, I can't sort through that.

494

:

You want to have it back by two o'clock

and it's 11 in the morning already, you

495

:

know, And there's just no way sometimes.

496

:

So you go with your standards,

the things that you always have

497

:

Cliff Duvernois: and your

customers will love and

498

:

Mark Smith: Stuff that you

know that you're going to move.

499

:

And add in a few odds and ends here

and there to make it more interesting,

500

:

Cliff Duvernois: So let me

ask you this question here.

501

:

This was something that I experienced

a handful of years ago, buying

502

:

just like a bouquet of flowers to

something to put on a coffee table.

503

:

It looked beautiful, and I was shocked

that the display lasted as long as it did.

504

:

And I wish I knew what kind of magic

was used because I mean, it seems

505

:

like flowers after like a week or

so would start to give out but.

506

:

These seem to last forever.

507

:

And then like, like maybe a week and

a half, two weeks in, all of a sudden

508

:

these other flowers opened up and started

to bloom, which was like beautiful.

509

:

So if somebody had something in

their home, because you're talking

510

:

about the quality of the flowers, is

there anything that they can do to

511

:

like keep that quality looking good?

512

:

Mark Smith: Well, yes, yes.

513

:

And no, the, the old rumors of

dropping a penny in a rose vase,

514

:

never heard that one doesn't work.

515

:

Okay.

516

:

Aspirin doesn't work.

517

:

it, it, a lot of it depends

on the product, how it was,

518

:

taken care of in shipping.

519

:

Imagine it's picked in say Bogota, right?

520

:

Um, it's taken and put it in a box in

a refrigerated truck goes from there

521

:

to the, from the farm to the airport,

522

:

From the airport.

523

:

It's on a refrigerated airplane to Miami.

524

:

So it gets unloaded in Miami.

525

:

And what if it sits on the

tarmac for six or eight hours?

526

:

And it doesn't get right into the coolers.

527

:

Cliff Duvernois: Yeah, especially on

one of those 90, 100 super human days.

528

:

Right, so if that

529

:

Mark Smith: happens to that, and

we can tell when stuff comes in

530

:

if it's going to make it or not.

531

:

You know, And the other part of that whole

process is we use different processes,

532

:

not every flower shop uses that cost

us money out of our profit margin.

533

:

To take care of the flowers better.

534

:

And product is, developed over or has

changed over the years where we're

535

:

getting better stuff than we used to.

536

:

Nice.

537

:

And the longevity is, is way

better than it used to be.

538

:

So yeah, if you can, if you can

keep it alive, I mean, a good thing

539

:

for a consumer to do is to mist it.

540

:

Just missed it with water.

541

:

They take water up the stems, but

they also absorb it out of the moat.

542

:

Oh, okay.

543

:

Atmosphere.

544

:

So in the winter time, your

furnace is running all the time.

545

:

Your air is super dry.

546

:

Yeah, that makes a big difference.

547

:

Cliff Duvernois: And Mark, if somebody

is listening to this and they want

548

:

to come and check you out, find you

online, the socials, your website,

549

:

whatever it is, how can they find you?

550

:

Mark Smith: Midland, Michigan,

Ashburn Street, you can't miss

551

:

the big red building for one.

552

:

Um, our website smithsflowers.

553

:

com and then smithsofmidland on

Instagram and wherever my daughter's got.

554

:

I don't even know where it's all at.

555

:

She's probably got a

jillion photos up there.

556

:

It's everywhere, yeah.

557

:

Yes.

558

:

We're here all the time.

559

:

I mean, you can order online

all, all day long, all night.

560

:

And we're here answering

the phones every day.

561

:

So

562

:

Cliff Duvernois: Yes, beautiful.

563

:

Mark, thank you so much for

taking time to chat with us today.

564

:

Really appreciate it.

565

:

Mark Smith: Well, I appreciate

you coming and finding me.

566

:

Cliff Duvernois: And, uh, for

our audience, we're going to

567

:

swirl on over to total michigan.

568

:

com and click on Mark's interview

and to get the links that he

569

:

mentioned above, order your flowers.

570

:

We'll see you next Valentine's is coming.

571

:

Valentine's is coming.

572

:

Yes.

573

:

We'll catch you next time when we

talk to another Michigander doing

574

:

some pretty extraordinary things.

575

:

We'll see you then.

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