Trying to figure out a way to take advantage of her shop's location off a main drag in Pittsburgh, Cheryl Bakin, owner of Parkway Florist, reached back to her youth for ideas. It paid off, she now sees a couple hundred dollars more in cash and carry purchases every week.

"In my younger days, Happy Hour was always something we stopped for on Thursdays and Fridays," Bakin says. "A number of restaurants and bars around here offer 'buy one, get one free' and 'half-off' specials, and we wanted to figure out a way to use that to drive cash and carry sales our way."

So about four years ago, Bakin started placing a sign near the busy street that brings people from the west and south suburbs into the city. It advertises "Happy Hour 4-7 p.m. Buy One, Get One Free," and features specially-priced product from wholesalers.  

Despite the major thoroughfare, getting people into her store isn't the easiest of feats, Bakin says, because the store is in a "very vanilla, industrial-looking building," that passersby may otherwise miss if it weren't for the special. 

 "Generally once people stop in the store, they stop in again the next week and some turn into regular customers," she says.

Parkway Florist features its Happy Hour specials on Fridays from April until November, because winter is "ugly and people just want to get home," Bakin says.

Although it starts off slow each year, "We've had pretty good results," Bakin says. "Generally we get a couple of hundred dollars a week; it varies, you always know when it's payday." She adds that with the increasing fuel prices and the current situation with the economy, her customers appreciate being able to save a buck.

--Kori Kamradt
kkamradt@safnow.org

 

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