Flowerama Company

Flowerama's roots began with a company called Frink's Green House, Inc., founded in 1952 by Maurice and Herbert Frink, son of a Waterloo, Iowa florist. Their first attempt at wholesale growing came with the development of a 50,000 square foot greenhouse operation located in nearby Cedar Falls. The company's facilities were expanded to include the second 60,000 square foot range in Waterloo in 1965. The Frinks eventually became suppliers for more than 250 retail outlets primarily in Iowa, and in several other Midwest states.

Our Beginnings

After many years of servicing the rather unpredictable retail floral shops and supermarket chains, it became increasingly obvious that in order to develop stable consistently dependable outlets, a fresh, new marketing approach had to be implemented.

In 1967 the Flowerama Mobile Merchandiser began. The Mobile Merchandiser was a portable trailer that opened to a 24' by 32' sales and display area. These mobile merchandising units were towed to high traffic sites located in the parking lots of large supermarkets and shopping centers. These portable garden centers offered items that were typically found in small garden centers.

In 1970 a decision was made to open a number of company-owned stores in Iowa and Minnesota in regional shopping malls. The shops retained the same appealing openness of the mobile units, yet afforded a comfortable, year round protected environment and at the same time provided a constant stream of impulse buyers.

Because of the success of the company-owned retail stores, in 1972 a program was developed to expand the retail floral shops through franchising.

The basic Flowerama merchandising approach consists of making quality products conveniently available at affordable prices. By purchasing flowers on a volume basis direct from brokers and growers and by using the cash and carry approach to merchandising, Flowerama is able to offer quality floral products and arrangements to the public at prices that usually are significantly less than conventional florists.

Continued increasing rents and limitation on square footage caused Flowerama to re-evaluate further expansion in regional mall shopping centers. The opening of Flowerama's first freestanding floral center in 1986 marked the beginning of the transition from mall locations to freestanding stores.

Today there are more than 60 freestanding Flowerama centers all across the country. Our company owned locations in Iowa provide the basis for continued retail development as well as a testing ground for new and unique product lines.

In 2011 Flowerama of America, Inc. was acquired by 1-800-Flowers Retail, Inc. This partnership has made Flowerama part of the largest floral franchise organization in the world!