" I suppose our local societies
could be thought of as the Chez Panisses of the restaurant world,
insisting
on the freshest most organic of foods for our restaurant's clientele
who are
willing to pay the price. (Hmmm... there may be a newsletter article
in
that notion...)

K Barrett "

From a user's view point, this quote is the smartest thing said in this
thread. IMHO "club" and "business" are and should be separate. Mixing
the two, in clubs I have joined, works the hell out of members and
produces a bland product. The best clubs concentrate on member
enjoyment and let the business aspects take a back seat. The local OS
serves bad coffee and speakers, has little room for socializing, is set
up like a classroom and is populated by a pretty dour member set. At
their shows everybody is hovered around the sales booths and the
exhibits stand in lonely beauty, abandoned, unexplained, an
afterthought to this business of selling. Wouldn't it be a winner if,
lined up behind a First Prize Winner there were a dozen siblings, in
bloom, waiting for a new owner! Instead, you must walk from this beauty
to some forlorn stall and buy a bare root baby that looks like a cold
wet dog. That, by the way, is the feeling I get when buying from a big
box. That, by the way, is the way I got into orchids, buying a blooming
beauty for someone. That rule still applies for me. I seldom buy one to
grow, I buy it to bloom! There the BBs have you beat, sell the bloom
not the plant. They just cannot perform that feat very well, you should
be able to.OR, split your effort to sell plants AND bloomers, two VERY
different markets. Plants should arrive ready to grow, no repotting for
two years, with complete instructions. No difficult to grow,seldom
blooming wonders. Check roses, they only sell when in bloom, orchids
should be the same. If you would only decide to be bloom sellers your
life would be easy and wallets fat. Lowe's only sells blooming plants
in pots, maybe you should take the hint. Lowe's orchids in a bag you
ask ? The bag has a huge bloom on it! Like I say, they only sell
blooms. Most orchid sellers show you the bloom then sell you the plant!
Most that will bloom in two to five YEARS!!! Give me a break.
Joe T
I confess that I do have one plant to grow, a Max. Picta. My wife gave
me a hand full of pbulbs 12 years ago saying "this is an orchid" Yeah,
right! I have been growing that damn thing for TWELVE YEARS! Always
near death, never a bloom. My wife could compete with some orchid
sellers I have known. Heavy on the "have"



K Barrett wrote:
Taken with Koopowitz's recent editorial in 'The Orchid Digest' it appears
some societies are moving away from the 'show' aspect of their annual fund
raisers and only having the 'sale' portions. Two of the societies in the
CalSierra region hold sales instead of shows. I believe both are held in
conjunction with large home and garden shows. The DVOS had their show in
October, did not buy any plants as a society, only sold member's plants and
took a cut from the vendor (like what Pat was saying). We made more $$ than
in any previous year. We tried 1) being a vendor and having other vendors,
2) being the only vendor and 3) this time selling society members plants and
letting vendors sell. To us it looks like #3 is the winner. Also we
advertised the heck out of the show with signs placed at just about every
intersection in town. Lo tech.

I like Pat's comment that the local show may act only to whet the public's
appetite for orchids, so they then go off to Trader Joe's and buy their
plants. I suppose one would have to wonder where does one's sympathies lie?
As a Board member I wanted more members to come to the meetings. But as I
write this, maybe the club makes more money from the sale than they do from
the members and so why spend so much energy on the least productive portion
of the Club's income? If a club was to be run as a business then members,
newsletters and meetings are a loss leader. The real money comes from
auctions and sales.

I dunno, I'm just talking off the top of my head here, and I think I just
scared myself. *G*. Where's that dang 'Matrix' when you need it?

One of my friends eyes the progress of big box stores as a good thing.
Finally time for the vendor to finally make some decent money. But then
he's on the *Big* side of the business. He wholesales to box stores. To
him the debate is one of Darwinism. If you can't compete then get out of
the way. I suppose its the same way in any ag business. The little niche
growers vs the multinational conglomerates. I suppose our local societies
could be thought of as the Chez Panisses of the restaurant world, insisting
on the freshest most organic of foods for our restaurant's clientele who are
willing to pay the price. (Hmmm... there may be a newsletter article in
that notion...)

K Barrett