Seminole Properties history

Using an advanced computer network to link its affiliates, FTD handles more than 12 million orders annually, down from over 22 million in 1987, a slump largely attributed to intensifying competition.

Beginning in 1988, FTD experienced dropping market share and sales.

By 1990, FTD was spending somewhere between $20--$25 million annually on advertising.

The FTD Bundle of Joy bouquet came attached to an assortment of Gerber products, including a baby bottle and a toy. For example, in 1991 FTD ran a cooperative venture with Gerber Products Co., the renowned baby food and baby products manufacturer.

By 1993 McCann had turned 1-800-Flowers around, and the company was reporting $100 million in annual sales.

The new company would "sell relationships, not just flowers" according to a September 26, 1994 report in Advertising Age.

One of the first things the new company did was to change its advertising agency, hiring Grey Advertising in 1995 to handle its account, worth an estimated $35 million.

In 1997 two of FTD's rivals, Teleflora Inc. and Redbook Florists Service, announced that they would merge.

Wax flowers took the place of the real thing.1William Seale, “Introduction,” in Dottie Temple and Stan Finegold, Flowers, White House Style, (Simon and Schuster, 2002), 2.

The current owners are Mike & Diane Cherry, who are Seminole, FL residents, and who have owned Hayes Florist since September 2007.