OP_102016

22 | October 20, 2016 | The orland park prairie Life & Arts
opprairie.com
Local flower shop celebrates 100 years of business
Mitchell’s has stayed
family owned over
multiple locations
Brittany Kapa, Assistant Editor
Mitchell’s Flowers &
Events has been a family
owned business for the
past 100 years, and owner
George Mitchell hopes to
keep it that way.
Surrounded by his children
— Dan, David and
Patty — David’s wife, Megan;
George’s wife, Nancy;
and his grandson, Lucas; the
Mitchell clan recounted the
shop’s growth since being
in business, and how the age
of technology has influenced
the business model.
The Mitchells celebrated
their family’s success with
an open house Saturday,
Oct. 15. Surrounded by family
and friends, the Mitchell
family welcomed the public
to its Orland Park location,
14309 S. Beacon, with roses,
refreshments and goodies.
That location, in particular,
has been in business for
43 years as of September
2016. But the earliest business
license the Mitchells
could find puts the opening
of the legacy in 1916. Since
then, it has seen multiple location
shifts, but a Mitchell
always has remained at the
head of the company.
The family now splits its
time between the remaining
Orland Park and Hinsdale
stores. George Mitchell, in
particular, started working
in his family’s flower shop
when he was just 8 years old,
and his children were not
much older than him when
they started, as well.
The family’s patriarch,
Christos Mitchell, hailed
from Greece and moved to
the United States after war
broke out in his home country.
From humble beginnings
“Our hope is to
have the business
grow and service
the community.
... We want to
continue to be a
first class family
florist.”
George Mitchell —
owner of Mitchell’s
Flowers & Events, on
his hopes for his family’s
100-year-old business
going forward
and dreams of wanting to
make something of himself,
Christos built the business
up from the ground.
The rest, as they say, is
history.
Business, 100 years later
The shop today provides
flowers for every occasion,
from weddings, birthdays
and funerals to homecoming
and prom corsages and
boutonnieres. During the
most recent homecoming
season, each shop did 125
arrangements, with many orders
being placed the day of
the events, which the store
worked to fill despite the
short time frame.
While the Mitchells employ
roughly 15 employees
outside of their family, the
heart and soul of the company
is largely a family operation.
Dan works alongside
his father as a designer. David
handles the accounting
side of the business. Nancy,
Patty and Megan all help
with day-to-day tasks.
While the business in
Mitchell family members (left to right) Megan Mitchell, Nancy Mitchell, David Mitchell, George Mitchell, Dan Mitchell,
and Patty Watne pose for a photo inside Mitchell’s Flowers & Events in Orland Park, which is celebrating 100 years in
business. Brittany Kapa/22nd Century Media
the past seemed recessionproof,
the last recession hit
the business harder than expected,
and the family is still
trying to bring the business
back up to speed.
“Until that last recession,
we were somewhat recession-proof,
but this last time,
yeah, we were affected,”
George said.
Part of what is bringing
them out of the recession is
not only wedding shows but
also the online side of the
business. In 2003, Mitchell’s
opened its online shop,
and David said the business
now gets approximately
40 percent of its customer
base through website traffic.
While only 15 percent of the
shop’s orders are done solely
through the website, Mitchell’s
has a large contingent
of people who will call in
after browsing the website.
“Customers are more particular,
because they see a
picture,” David said. “Back
in the olden days ... before
you had [the Internet], people
would call up and say, ‘I
would like to send flowers
to my mom for her birthday.
Could you do something for
$50, and something nice for
a woman.’”
Patty continued, “They
would trust that you were
professionals, and now it’s
much more, ‘I want what I
see.’”
The challenge Mitchell’s
faces now is to educate its
customers on what flowers
are obtainable for that season.
Stock photos are used
on the website, which provides
a great visual but does
not always translate to the
season.
But they said they keep
an open dialogue from the
beginning of an order to the
end. The staff at Mitchell’s
makes sure customers know
what they are be receiving
before they even place the
order.
A friendly reminder
This type of customer service
has translated into a successful
business model, and
after 100 years Mitchell’s is
seeing generational celebrations.
They have noticed that
families in the area are loyal
to the shop, and part of that
loyalty comes with a gentle
reminder every year.
“There are a fair amount
of customers that really appreciate
that reminder, and
usually they forget the day
of and call us asking if we
can still do it, and we do,”
David said. “That’s the best
part of our business.”
Reminder cards, with a
15 percent discount, are sent
to customers a year after
they’ve bought an arrangement
for an anniversary, or
birthday. It is the store’s way
of helping its clients stay on
top of special events, even
when life gets busy.
“We have one family in
town that has four or five
daughters that will send
flowers to the mom [for her
birthday], and they all call
us,” David said. “When the
mom needs stuff, she calls
us, and we sent it out around
the country. One of the sisters
lives in Alaska.”
With regards to the future,
the family does not plan on
changing what works for the
business.
“Our hope is to have the
business grow and service
the community,” George
said. “I don’t think you can
be only so big, but yet you
want to keep your reputation.
We want to continue to
be a first class family florist.
Hopefully, for the 125th ...”
Nancy finished her husband’s
sentence with a
chuckle, “...we’ll still be
here.”