The Virginia Florist of Alexandria, Va., capitalized on its 50th anniversary with a party worthy of media coverage -- not necessarily for the party's overly-lavish nature but for a particular event -- one that left the store with a noticeably absent plaque.

Owner since 2000, Kevin Green has made a ritual of escorting children of patrons in the shop to see his "prized jackalope," a mounted trophy of a rabbit with antlers. Green decided to raffle it off as a prize for one of the 500-plus patrons who attended the celebration, which featured a large array of sale items, door prizes and food and drinks.

Could this quirky way of thanking customers really get your business more bang for its buck? Proof positive: The Alexandria Gazette covered the lucky jackalope winner: "I think I'm going to give this to my 8-year-old grandson. He'll think it's great. But, I also have another 13-year-old grandson. They'll probably fight over it," said the winner and longtime patron of the florist in the article, Mary Janet Renaud.

Quirkiness drives much of The Virginia Florists' giftware, which comprises about 30 percent of the shop's sales (50 percent during the holidays): mounted antlers, classic political campaign memorabilia, rock concert posters, fine art, garden encyclopedias and vintage local maps, to name a few.

"People come in here with an eye for [one-of-a-kind] home decoration," he says about the draw of offering distinct items in the store. "We tend to offer them things that are complementary."

Green, who says he's pleased with the outcome of the anniversary event, points out a side benefit of throwing the party: it helped clean up the shop's database: "We had a mailing list 8,000 people long." Green mailed invitations to the entire list and he says he received about 1,000 responses, saying either they'd attend, or the person at this address is now deceased.

--Cassandra P. Foster
cfoster@safnow.org

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