The Sieck Company is a
well-established regional wholesale florist company serving retailers across an eight
state marketplace. The Sieck network of ten independently operated companies covers an
area that stretches from Richmond, Virginia north to the Canadian border and includes
greater metropolitan Richmond, Washington D.C., Baltimore, Wilmington, Philadelphia,
Harrisburg, Trenton, Newark, Rochester, and Buffalo. It is unlikely that Claymore C.
Sieck imagined such growth when he founded the business in 1918, but he did have a keen
eye for opportunity. Working in his mother's retail florist shop in Baltimore, he
recognized that the local market had matured enough to make wholesale florist supply a
viable business. He began operations in a narrow row house, with 5 employees. The business prospered for over a
decade. Then The Great Depression sent revenues tumbling. Claymore Sieck de-emphasized his
cut flower operations for several years and turned instead to selling live evergreens. As
the local economy slowly recovered in the mid 1930's, he resumed traditional wholesale
operations. His commitment to the business and patience paid off during World War II, when
some years of stable profitability made up for the lean years of the Depression. When Claymore Sieck's son, Bill,
joined the business in 1948, it was still located in the same row house and it had grown
to involve 10 employees. Bill Sieck maintained the traditions of quality and caring that
had earned the company loyal customers in Baltimore. Like his father, he also had a keen
eye for the right opportunity, and under his leadership, the company expanded
significantly. In 1956, the company acquired a major production facility in Hanover,
Pennsylvania. The Hanover facility provided a steady source of cut flowers for many years.
Today, its 150,000 square feet of production facilities are devoted to flowering plants
and dish gardens. Bill Sieck also began expanding the company's wholesale operations
beyond Baltimore. In 1962, he started a new location serving the Washington, D.C. market.
In the 1980's, through start-ups and acquisitions, the Sieck Company added operations in
the Wilmington/Philadelphia market in 1981, Richmond, VA in 1986, and three upstate New
York locations in 1989. During the last ten years the Sieck Company has partnered with
Wright's Roses in Cranbury, New Jersey to create Sieck-Wright Floral Products, Inc. and
expanded their reach into northern Virginia and the Shenandoah Valley with a location in
Manassas, VA. Today, the Sieck Company employs
over 350 people in its 10 locations to serve more than 2500 retail florists. Each location
handles a broad-based offering of fresh flowers, supplies and plants, as each store
carries from 5,000 to 10,000 items for sale to retail florists everyday. The Sieck Company, like other
leading wholesale florists, has adapted new tools and enhanced business practices to keep
pace with trends. With the emergence of a truly global marketplace for floral product, the
company has established sources of supply from around the world to assure its customers of
high quality products at always competitive prices. At the Sieck Company, we are proud to have served the retail florist effectively for over 80 years. Yet, we are unwilling to rest on yesterdays' achievements. A long history is meaningless unless the customer's order today is filled on time, with quality product, at competitive prices. The Sieck Company will continue to do no less. |
