Director of Development and Alumni Affairs
PLYMOUTH - Things seem to change these days at the speed of microprocessors, but there are several things that just never seem to change and just as sure as winter changes to spring, Felke Florist will be there on South Michigan Street to help people plant their gardens or send flowers to loved ones.
The mainstay business of downtown Plymouth was recently honored by Teleflora as one of the top 1000 florists in the nation. Teleflora is a floral wiring service with over 18,000 members in the United States and Canada and offers only hand-arranged and delivered quality floral products. The award takes into account the number of orders sent by Felke's to other florists as well as those received and delivered locally. Customer service is also a big part of the award.
"They come in to inspect your business, your coolers, the professionalism of your shop and designers," said Chris Felke, owner of the family business. "They inspect your delivery vehicle - they don't really want you delivering orders by loading up the old station wagon or something."
While Felke's has been in the top 2000 in the nation numerous times this is their first top 1000 ranking. The Felke's have been in the florist business since anybody can remember.
"It's really a very interesting story," said Chris. "I'm actually the fifth generation Felke to own the business. My great, great, great Grandmother started around 1854 near Chicago. She grew flowers in the fields around the train stations and made a fortune selling them to passengers as they got on the train. She had a whole greenhouse system around that part of Chicago and then lost it all in a fire."
Chris has a newspaper clipping from an 1890's edition of the Chicago Daily News in the current family greenhouse telling the story of Mary Felke, the nice lady who sold people flowers as they boarded their trains and the fire that took away her fortune.
Picking up from that fire, she and her son moved on to Elkhart, Indiana at the turn of the century, and eventually in 1922 on to Plymouth where they started Felke Florist in it's current location.
"We still use the original greenhouses that my grandfather and great grandfather built when they started here in Plymouth," said Chris. "It's kind of neat every year around this time when people come back to town for reunions and things somebody always stops in and says 'I can't believe you're still here. I used to play around your greenhouses when I was a kid and I left town 40 years ago.' When they find out that I'm a Felke they have just as hard a time believing that."
Felke's is the second oldest continually owned family business in the state of Indiana. Chris has owned the family business for 20 years now and his sister Sarah Robinson runs the shop with him.
The family is a mainstay of the Community as well. Chris's father Joe was a big part of many community organizations in Plymouth in particular the United Way and Jaycees. Chris has also served on many local boards for charity and community organizations.
So just how long will the Felke family tradition continue? Only time will tell.
"I didn't plan on being a florist," said Chris. "I went to DePauw University and then to law school. My wife and I were living in Chicago and just one day decided that it was kind of crazy. If we were going to raise a family we should come back to Plymouth to do that.
"One thing is certain that everything just keeps changing. I remember when 800 numbers first came out my father saying '…who's going to dial all those numbers?' I remember we were the first FTD florist to have a website when all they were was information, you couldn't even order from them. Now we have aps for our iPhones. Everything always changes."
No comments:
Post a Comment