Ozarks Profile: Karl Jones

The store started in 1976. Linda is actually my mother. I joined the business in 1978. I started the tuxedo business in 1980. I basically purchased the flower shop from my parents in 1990 and put (the businesses) into one corporation. We do have the Battlefield location; we have an express flower location in the Summer Fresh store out on Plainview Road. On the bridal side – it’s actually Karl’s Tuxedos & Bridal – we actually have a full dress store (on Battlefield). I also have a bridal store location on the north side and it’s like an outlet store. It’s at the corner of Chestnut Expressway and Glenstone. We have wedding gowns over there that are discounted anywhere from 30 percent to 50 percent, and we have items for bridesmaids and tuxedos, all of that kind of stuff. We have about 22 employees.

What is your job?

I design probably 70 percent of my time. I actually design with fresh flowers and do the daily work. The other 30 percent is just running the business.

How important are the holidays for your business?

The Christmas season is important to us because we do a lot of corporate gifts and a lot of corporate business. So Christmas is important, but we’re not like the normal retailers (that) are going to do a huge part of their business for the year in December. Actually, our better months are the first six months of the year, with Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day and whatever.

What are some of your most common corporate gifts?

Poinsettias are the backbone of the Christmas season, and what a lot of corporate (clients) do. However, gift baskets, through the years, have been very popular. We do a lot of specialized gift baskets where we incorporate, maybe, a company’s mug ... or any type of promotional things that they have, into a basket with food products or candles, or a coffee theme. The other thing is fresh flowers (for) Christmas parties. A lot of company parties, we’re going to put centerpieces together that they’ll give away to employees.

Where do your flowers come from?

Anymore, the fresh flower market really is South America. So many of the flowers are grown in South America. They come in through Miami, so you have a lot of volume, flowers that come in through Florida ... but most of them are grown in South America. There are some California farms, there are some Colorado farms.

So our weather really doesn’t affect the fresh flower market?

What has opened up the market for us is that we can get the majority – I would say 90 percent – of the flowers year-round. Now there is, sometimes, some cost variation. Tulips, at certain times of the year, are harder to get because of their season, even though most of those come in from Holland. There will be some price variation. We live in a world where supply and demand definitely regulates our prices on a weekly basis. But with them grown in those South American climates, there is a huge variety of flowers available ... pretty much all the time.

Tell us about your family.

This is a very strong family business. I actually have five brothers, and we all, as we grew up, worked in the business in one way or another. I’m the only one that actually stayed in the business. I have four children of my own. Two of them ... Ryan’s 18 and Josh is 16, work in the business. Ryan works in the tuxedo shop and Josh ... is actually a designer and he works behind the counter after school, making flower arrangements. My two daughters are younger. They hang around here, but they’re not into working yet. Kallen is 13 and Karlee is 7. My wife, Janet, works in the business. Linda, my mother, works for me. She and my dad, Sam Jones, work at the Summer Fresh location and head up that store. I have more family in the business. There’s probably a dozen of us in the business, out of the 22, that are related.

What goals do you have for your company?

In the next year, we’re going to be focusing a lot more into the personalized corporate gifts. We’re promoting our bridal store heavily. We’ve actually had the gowns for right at a year and half, and we’ve just had a phenomenal year ... so we’re going to be promoting and pushing that very heavily with the bridal fairs.