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A NEW CENTRAL FLORAL DESIGNER CENTER

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Feb 13, 2009

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Nov 3, 2000 - A central facility and more locations will help Adrian Durban Florists stay rooted.

Rachel Melcer, Courier Staff Reporter

Kerry Durban is arranging his family's Adrian Durban Florists company to make way for future blooms.
He took business operations, which had sprouted in odd corners of its three shops, and gathered them into a new Blue Ash facility. It holds a call center for telephone and Internet orders, an expansive design floor, a large cooler and storeroom, and a warehouse with a loading bay.

As chief executive officer, Durban is making one of the Tri-State's largest and oldest floral houses seem young again. With Eileen Durban, his mother and company president, and vice president Beth Durban (his sister), Kerry Durban is streamlining the business that goes behind the bouquets.

I try to get more creative all the time. I'm always trying to do things more efficient and smarter, he said.

The Blue Ash facility, which includes a retail shop, is the company's fourth. The original Durban greenhouse, established in 1899, remains on McAlpin Avenue in Clifton -- though the family is thinking about closing the retail operation and using it just for growing and storage. And business is booming at the signature purple shop on Clifton Avenue in Clifton and the Harpers Point store in Symmes Township.

Durban said he is checking out sites in Northern Kentucky for another store. Eventually, he'd like to have seven seeding the Tri-State.

I have the roving eye. I'm always looking for additional locations, he said. The skys the limit, but its got to be right. Its got to feel right.

To Durban, that means having a cozy feel in the middle of a growing area with good flower-buying demographics. And it has to be within reach of the Blue Ash facility, where 95 percent of the chain's orders are filled. The delivery area stretches roughly from Lebanon to the north and Florence to the south; and from Harrison to the west and Batavia to the east.

And he wants to make sure the company doesn't grow beyond its ability to hire and train good people, who will maintain the Durban's personal touch and attention to detail.

Adrian Durban Florists has grown from about 25 employees a decade ago, and 30 people five years ago, to about 50 today. So far, the growth has meant longtime employees showing newcomers the ropes on the job -- but Durban worries that if there is a rapid influx, he will have to start a formal training program.

We don't want to grow too rapidly because I do not want to lose that control and personality of the business. I think that gives us a little bit of an edge (over the competition). That is key, he said.

Longtime customers say the personal touch has kept them coming back to Adrian Durban. They appreciate the attention to detail, helpful suggestions by designers and order-takers, and the feeling that their arrangements are custom-made.

They've exceeded our expectations in every way, said Tracy Bertke, vice president of sales with Globe Business Interiors (GBI), which has been ordering Adrian Durban flowers for clients and employees for years. The florist is on Bertke's office phone speed dial.

We've been doing business with them for as long as I can remember, Bertke said. The trust has always been there. We know that when we place an order, it will be there.

Durban said the 12,000-square-foot Blue Ash facility should make the business even more responsive.

It brings order-taking, supply, fulfillment and delivery under one roof for the first time. The chain, which never had a receiving dock or warehouse space, now can keep more inventory on hand and fill orders more efficiently. It also can buy in bigger bulk, which brings down prices. There is room for an expanding line of gift basket items, such as gourmet food and wine, as well as a greater variety of blooms that sit in an oversized cooler. Having several design stations in one spot allows the shops to offer more uniform products.

Moving those operations out of the other shops means they have more floor space. The Clifton Avenue store will feature a bigger gift basket sales area and event-planning room. The greenhouse now has room to store wedding specialty equipment and other pieces that are not used every day.

Durban said he began planning the move in 1995, when the existing shops started bursting at the seams, but until now he had not found the right location. Over those five years, Adrian Durban sales volume grew by about 120 percent -- making the need to expand more urgent.

The chain had not done any marketing because Durban was afraid of getting more business than they could handle. But that is about to change. He wants to seek out more corporate clients, and encourage people to place orders online at http://www.adflorist.com. And he sees the need to stay competitive in an expanding industry.

But that doesn't mean the company will stray from its roots. Durban wants to make sure he does not lose touch with his loyal customer base.

His company has been supplying floral arrangements to The Phoenix since the downtown banquet hall opened more than 10 years ago. Its bouquets adorn every open house and Phoenix-sponsored corporate meeting, and a large centerpiece -- often inspired by the season or an upcoming holiday -- is always the focal point of the President's Room restaurant.

Catering staff also include Adrian Durban on the list of preferred vendors that they provide to people who are holding events at the Phoenix. General Manager David Howard recalled a couple of times when the florist was called in at the last minute to provide 30 centerpieces in place of competitors who had failed to deliver.

They are extremely flexible and they work with their clients, Howard said. They just have such personal service and Eileen (Durban) is a pleasure to work with. They just go that extra step.