Bachman's Floral gifts & garden

Bachman's has been in business since 1885, when founder Henry Bachman, Sr., planted potatoes, lettuce, onions, and squash on a plot of land in south Minneapolis. Today, that plot contains the firm's headquarters and acres of floral, gift, garden, and landscaping departments, and Bachman's has grown to be one of the largest traditional floral and nursery operations in the world.

From 1885 to 1914, Bachman's raised vegetables, until Albert Bachman, one of Henry's five sons, made the now far-reaching decision to grow flowers rather than vegetables in one of the greenhouses. Throughout the 1920s, flowers were phased in and vegetables were phased out. In the mid-1 920s, the first Bachman's retail store was built on the Lyndale site. Albert Bachman also chose the Company's distinctive color when a paper salesman presented him with three color choices. Albert chose purple -- much to the salesperson's dismay --because no other company wanted to use purple as a company color.

At present, Bachman's has six retail Floral, Gift, and Garden Centers in the Twin Cities, Minnesota and a floral presence in metro area Lunds and Byerly's stores. Bachman's also operates indoor and outdoor landscaping divisions, a nursery wholesale division, seven acres of greenhouses, and a 670-acre growing range near Lakeville, Minnesota, which produces many of the plants, flowers, and landscaping products sold through Bachman's locations. Bachman's fleet of purple floral trucks delivers over 5,000 packages during an average week. For a busy Valentine's Day week, Bachman's will use over 180 delivery vehicles, including purple trucks, private cars, and two cab services to deliver over 24,000 purple packages.

Source: Bachman's Floral gifts & gardens