Even after more than 100 years of service to the community, Graves Floral is growing as rapidly, if not faster, than the flowers they sell.
Graves Floral, 1525 N. Broadway, attributes much of their success to the small number of couples who have owned the business in the past 10 decades and to Teleflora, the leading flower wire service in the world, which offers only hand-arranged and hand-delivered floral arrangements.
“It’s been very instrumental that everybody, every family, every person that comes here, all remember the name and we kept it in honor of the Graves,” Pam Fincher, who owns Graves Floral with husband Bob, said. “It’s a very established name. And we’re very proud to be a member of Teleflora’s industry. It’s exciting to see how they are keeping up with the electronic changes and how they can help us be worldwide.”
Also exciting to the Finchers is the recognition they recently received from Teleflora.
Teleflora named Graves Floral a Top 1000 Florist for 2008. The recognition puts Graves Floral in the top 1 percent of a U.S. florist shops who send orders electronically through Teleflora.
Currently, Teleflora has about 20,000 members through the U.S. and Canada. Graves Floral was chosen as a Top 1000 Florist from those 20,000 members.
Graves Floral’s history began with greenhouses in 1908, but the original owner and builder remains unknown, Fincher said. What is known is that S.S. “Sam” Jones purchased the business in 1919 and 19 years later, John and Lucy Graves bought into Jones’ business.
The business was renamed Jones-Graves Floral Co. and became Graves Floral after the Graves took sole ownership of the business in 1950. Pam Fincher worked for the Graves during her first year of college at Oklahoma State University.
Fincher, a certified Oklahoma master florist, worked for Graves Floral for 20 years, including those that the shop was owned by Bob and Sue Maynard, prior to purchasing the shop 15 years ago.
Fincher said the shop sees more orders “every month and every year” because of their presence on the Internet.
“With the Internet, customers can order flowers through the Internet — flowers made in Shawnee, in their state, their local community,” she said.
Fincher said many people have worked at Graves Floral throughout the years and many call or return to the shop for orders or just to see how the business has changed or stayed the same.
“They know the name and they remember it as their first call when they need to order flowers in the community,” she said. “Everyone knows the name and I’m hoping it can remain that way for another 100 years in Shawnee.”
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Even after more than 100 years of service to the community, Graves Floral is growing as rapidly, if not faster, than the flowers they sell.
Graves Floral, 1525 N. Broadway, attributes much of their success to the small number of couples who have owned the business in the past 10 decades and to Teleflora, the leading flower wire service in the world, which offers only hand-arranged and hand-delivered floral arrangements.
“It’s been very instrumental that everybody, every family, every person that comes here, all remember the name and we kept it in honor of the Graves,” Pam Fincher, who owns Graves Floral with husband Bob, said. “It’s a very established name. And we’re very proud to be a member of Teleflora’s industry. It’s exciting to see how they are keeping up with the electronic changes and how they can help us be worldwide.”
Also exciting to the Finchers is the recognition they recently received from Teleflora.
Teleflora named Graves Floral a Top 1000 Florist for 2008. The recognition puts Graves Floral in the top 1 percent of a U.S. florist shops who send orders electronically through Teleflora.
Currently, Teleflora has about 20,000 members through the U.S. and Canada. Graves Floral was chosen as a Top 1000 Florist from those 20,000 members.
Graves Floral’s history began with greenhouses in 1908, but the original owner and builder remains unknown, Fincher said. What is known is that S.S. “Sam” Jones purchased the business in 1919 and 19 years later, John and Lucy Graves bought into Jones’ business.
The business was renamed Jones-Graves Floral Co. and became Graves Floral after the Graves took sole ownership of the business in 1950. Pam Fincher worked for the Graves during her first year of college at Oklahoma State University.
Fincher, a certified Oklahoma master florist, worked for Graves Floral for 20 years, including those that the shop was owned by Bob and Sue Maynard, prior to purchasing the shop 15 years ago.
Fincher said the shop sees more orders “every month and every year” because of their presence on the Internet.
“With the Internet, customers can order flowers through the Internet — flowers made in Shawnee, in their state, their local community,” she said.
Fincher said many people have worked at Graves Floral throughout the years and many call or return to the shop for orders or just to see how the business has changed or stayed the same.
“They know the name and they remember it as their first call when they need to order flowers in the community,” she said. “Everyone knows the name and I’m hoping it can remain that way for another 100 years in Shawnee.”
