In 1978, Charlie’s Produce began as a small produce wholesaler in Seattle. Twenty-five years later, the company has grown to be the largest independent wholesale produce distributor in the Pacific Northwest, with four distribution centers in Seattle, Spokane, Portland and Anchorage, which employ over 630 people.

Serving independent grocers with their produce needs has worked well for Charlie Billow, owner of Charlie’s Produce. But he had a vision that floral would help round out his program for his supermarket trade.

With no experience in floral, Mr. Billow realized he needed to start the program with someone who had the background and skills to be able to develop it with little support from his internal group.

Two-and-a-half years ago, Gloria Shofstall, who was the floral director for Associated Grocers at the time, was looking for a challenge and Mr. Billow gave her one: to start a floral program for Charlie’s Produce.

With her five years of floral experience from AG, Ms. Shofstall knew about care and handling of floral in a warehouse environment. She also knew the needs of floral shops with her seven years of retail experience as a floral shop designer and nine years as a supermarket floral department manager. She set up temperature control rooms so they could separate products according to their temperature needs, with fresh flowers in a very cool environment and blooming plants in warmer coolers. She created item codes and vendor accounts, and Charlie’s Produce officially entered the floral business.

Everything wasn’t exactly as it was at Associated Grocers. Ms. Shofstall needed to learn a whole new computer system and warehouse shipping system, but this didn’t slow down her efforts. Within two weeks of starting her job, Ms. Shofstall was receiving her first shipment of bouquets and blooming plants for delivery to Charlie’s customers.

Today, Ms. Shofstall’s floral department services 170 supermarket floral departments and 255 total floral clients. Of those, 170 purchase floral items, including bouquets, blooming plants, foliage plants, soils, plants foods and other miscellaneous items. In 85 of her stores, they provide only plant-care products and palleted soils. In addition, Charlie’s Produce also provides flowers, especially at holidays to restaurants, Microsoft Cafeterias, Virginia Mason Hospital and seasonally to the local produce stands.

There is no set formula for Charlie’s customers. “Most of my stores are independents,” said Ms. Shofstall. “Some companies have good-sized groups. For example, Haggen’s has 29 stores, all very upscale with beautiful floral shops and garden shops. Tidyman’s, with a group of 20 stores, delivers from Spokane, Washington all the way to Billings, Montana.”

Charlie’s works with many single storeowners too, with up to five stores in the group. And, she added, many of her smaller stores’ floral departments are still run by the produce manager. “These are the ones that really need our help,” she said.

Today Charlie’s floral program has grown to four employees. They work with all their stores, produce/floral merchandisers, and their other clients and assist with resets and grand openings.

Gloria Scheffler serves as the sales lead. She was a floral manager at QFC and worked with Ms. Shofstall at Associated Grocers. Joann Scholz-Hines has a background in supermarket floral as well as with a wholesale florist. Camille Lemke also has a background in wholesale floral but most recently worked for Super Valu in Tacoma.

Ms. Shofstall said that she is very fortunate to have three skilled people working for her. “Everyone plays a role here in keeping the program flowing. We take daily inventories of all perishable products, so we know daily if we have any issues that need to be addressed.”

	When Charlie Billow (left), owner of Charlies Produce in Seattle wanted to implement a floral program, he turned to floral veteran Gloria Shofstall (right) who took the challenge and made it flourish.

According to Ms. Shofstall, the employees in her department all have their own accounts to call on, but some require more coordination. For example, some Alaska and eastern Washington locations have more logistics issues. They are in charge of air orders, barges, coordinating the transfer of trucks to other facilities, and much more. “There is no lack of things to do,” she said.

“When I first started the program, they were so busy growing the business and building the product line that I couldn’t go out to the stores and help with resets and openings,” Ms. Shofstall continued. “But, with Charlie’s support, they have brought in the skilled floral personnel that made it possible to get out into the stores and support them in grand openings as well as display suggestions and department resets.

“This is a huge move in the direction that we have longed to pursue.”

Charlie’s Produce has trucks going out daily, but not all customers get a daily order. The floral orders are coordinated with produce deliveries, based on the level of business a customer is doing. According to Ms. Shofstall, “Some stores get six-day-a-week delivery, while others may only get two or three.”

Seattle is the centralized buying warehouse for Charlie’s Produce. Most products come to the Seattle location then are dispersed to the other locations. There is quite a large range, from Alaska to Portland, OR, Billings, MT, and Eugene, OR.

Ms. Shofstall admits that the program came together with many trials and errors. She feels that having prior knowledge of running a floral program was a big asset in starting the program for Charlie’s Produce. Her expertise in knowing what ships well under certain conditions and what stage the flower development should be in offers the best quality to the customer.

It is clear that floral has been a great addition for Charlie’s Produce. The key is to have personnel that knows and understands the floral industry. Ms. Shofstall was the perfect fit. It’s quite apparent that Charlie’s Produce floral program is thriving under her leadership.

Reprinted with permission from
THE PRODUCE NEWS