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TheBuzz Erika Engle |
Find two kinds
of floral bouquets
at the same placeInstead of asking if you want fries with that, at least one isle florist may ask if you'd like Riesling or Merlot with your bouquet or arrangement.
Fujikami Florist President Stephen Fujikami decided to offer wines for a combination of reasons, said George Shikuzawa, operations manager.
"One thing being that Steve Fujikami's always looking for something different as far as gift retail is concerned." The wine seemed a natural, following the progression of fruit baskets and gourmet food baskets.
It can eliminate an extra stop on the way to where ever it is one is destined.
"A lot of times a bottle of wine is a great way to say 'hey, you did it,' or 'congratulations,' " he said.
The convenience of flowers, wines and other gifts has boosted business at traditionally good times for the flower business, such as around the holidays from Thanksgiving to New Year's and of course, Valentine's Day.
Isle grocery stores have long offered the flowers and store-full-of-everything-else possibilities, along with a much larger wine selection. However, more exotic flowers and fancy arrangements are pretty much the exclusive domain of florists.
Along the same lines, locally renowned wine sellers such as Fujioka's, Tamura's and Vintage Wine Cellar have little to fear from Fujikami Florist.
"Obviously the type, selection and quantity or volume is not as large as the bigger wine stores," he said. But the flower selection? "Yeah, our flower selection exceeds them by a lot," he said.
A small beginning led to the construction of a climate-controlled wine cellar that can properly store 600 labels. The selection is primarily Californian and some bottles date back to the mid-1980s, he said.
Shikuzawa, who has worked in the restaurant industry, takes the approach he learned from his previous career in selling the florist's selections. Rather than being convinced by a label, the price or the blurb from Wine Spectator magazine, the personal recommendation is usually more solid, he said.
One needn't be an oenophile or overly fat of wallet to add a bottle of wine to a floral arrangement to go. Some are available for $10 while others go into the hundreds of dollars.
At the highest of the high-end, Shikuzawa could put a three-liter bottle of Opus One into someone's hands for around $1,500. "That's name dropping and there's tons of names that you could drop in an article that would have meaning for wine people, but I don't want to do that," Shikuzawa said slyly.
"We are a little secret place where they might find a little gem."
See the Columnists section for some past articles.
Erika Engle is a reporter with the Star-Bulletin.
Call 529-4302, fax 529-4750 or write to Erika Engle,
Honolulu Star-Bulletin, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., No. 7-210,
Honolulu, HI 96813. She can also be reached
at: eengle@starbulletin.com