type public traded as nasdaq flws industry retail founded 1976 headquarters carle place new york united states key people jim mccann ceo chris mccann president & coo products flowers gift baskets plants gourmet food collectibles revenue us 714 million fy 2009 1 operating income us 72.2 million fy 2009 1 net income us 98.4 million fy 2009 1 total assets us 286 million fy 2009 2 total equity us 134 million fy 2009 2 number of employees 4 000 3 website www.1800flowers.com headquarters in carle place 1 800 flowers.com inc. is a floral and gourmet foods gift retailer and distribution company in the united states . it was one of the first retailers to use a 24 x 7 toll free telephone number and the internet for direct sales to consumers . contents 1 history 2 companies owned 2.1 acquisitions 3 criticism 4 see also 5 references 6 external links history edit the concept of using the word flowers within a phoneword was originated by william alexander in the early 1980s . the phone number 1 800 356 9377 had been assigned to a trucking brokerage in wisconsin and was used for that company until 1981 . granville semmes and david snow formed a corporation which began to use that number to sell flowers in 1982 . their business struggled and that company was dissolved with its assets going to investors james poage and john davis of texas . in turn this new corporation struggled financially as well . 4 its assets were acquired in 1986 by jim mccann an owner of several flower shops in the new york city area since 1976 under whom the business saw success and growth . 5 in the early 1990s two events helped bring 1 800 flowers to national prominence . first at & t created an advertising campaign featuring the company that aired repeatedly during the 1992 summer olympics . 5 second at the time of the first persian gulf war many advertisers were pulling out of cnn unaware that cnn s war coverage would draw additional viewers . 1 800 flowers agreed to remain as an advertiser at founder ted turner s request . 5 the company was among the first retailers to partner with compuserve and aol in 1992 and 1994 respectively . on september 1 1995 the company registered the 1800flowers . com domain name . 6 in 1999 the company went public on the nasdaq stock exchange under the ticker symbol flws and changed its name to 1 800 flowers.com to match its web site address . the company fills its orders in two ways through a network of florists and through drop shipments . it established a florist to florist network called bloomnet and is one of several floral wire services in the country today . the company has merged with or acquired a number of other gift and retailing companies . in september 2007 the company announced a partnership with martha stewart living omnimedia to produce a line of floral products inspired by martha stewart . 7 in august 2011 the company acquired flowerama a waterloo based floral retailer with 100 locations in 28 states . 8 for a few weeks in fall 2009 1 800 flowers.com sponsored the entertainment tonight birthday segment . the company is headquartered in carle place new york on long island . companies owned edit fannie may confections inc. a chocolate and confectionery company based in chicago il . also owns the brands harry london candies and fanny farmer chocolate harry & david a gourmet fruit and food gifts omni channel retailer celebrations.com online invitation platform party ideas and recipes winetasting.com a distributor for california wineries based in napa valley ca ambrosia wine the winetasting network s direct to consumer wine club business cheryl s a multi channel company based in westerville oh selling gourmet cookies stock yards an online retailer of steak chops and other meats and seafood 1 800 baskets.com an online retailer of gift baskets designpac gifts llc a designer and maker of gourmet gift baskets the popcorn factory a catalog retailer of popcorn tins and snacks based in lake forest il bloomnet an international floral wire service fruitbouquets.com online retailer of fruit baskets finestationery.com online retailer of customizable invitations and personal stationery napco marketing corporation wholesale distributor of floral and plant containers and related supplies for the florist and mass market channels . florists.com flower delivery via local florists acquisitions edit on july 21 2008 1 800 flowers purchased napco marketing corporation a wholesale distributor of floral and plant containers and related supplies for the florist and mass market channels . on april 30 2008 1 800 flowers purchased designpac gifts llc a gourmet gift basket maker for 36 million usd in cash . 9 criticism edit customers have reported unknowingly being subscribed to livewell after receiving rebate checks from 1 800 flowers . 10 see also edit vanity numbers phonewords references edit a b c 1 800 flowers.com flws annual sec income statement filing via wikinvest a b 1 800 flowers.com flws annual sec balance sheet filing via wikinvest a b company profile for 1 800 flowers.com inc flws . retrieved 2008 10 17 . opinion and order 00 c 446 c pdf . united states district court for the western district of wisconsin . 2002 10 21 . retrieved 2012 11 06 . a b c flowers via social work . new york times . 2008 03 16 . retrieved 2012 11 06 . whois page . network solutions . 2012 11 06 . retrieved 2012 11 06 . 1 800 flowers.com martha stewart living in tie up . reuters . 2007 09 20 . retrieved 2012 11 06 . john molseed 4 august 2011 . no changes planned at flowerama after sale . retrieved 2015 01 26 . steven jarmon 2008 04 30 . 1 800 flowers.com r acquires designpac gifts llc a leading designer assembler and distributor of gourmet gift baskets gourmet food towers and gift sets press release . investor .1800 flowers.com . comtex . archived from the original on 2015 03 25 . retrieved 2015 01 26 . 1800flowers dupes you into signing up for livewell for 11.99 per month . the consumerist . retrieved 2012 11 06 . external links edit sec filing on nasdaq yahoo profile about us page from the company site retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title 1 800 flowers & oldid 738313913 categories carle place new yorkcommerce websitescompanies established in 1976companies listed on nasdaqflorist companiesonline retailers of the united statestelephone numbers in the united statescompanies based in nassau county new york1976 establishments in new yorkhidden categories pages using infobox company with unsupported parameters navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a 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