|
Our
Story
The Ludwig family was in the
flower business as far back as the late 1800's when E.C. Ludwig (Jim's
great-grandfather) had a flower
stall in the Market House in Allegheny, PA (Now Pittsburgh's North Side.)
 Our founder, Ed Ludwig,
established Ed Ludwig Flowers in 1929, as one of the first tenants in the
new Koppers Building in downtown Pittsburgh. (Ed's brother, Deforest,
had been a charter member of FTD.) Ed served as FTD president in 1955.
Ed's son, Jim Ludwig Sr., joined
him in the business in 1947, and the business name was changed to Ed and Jim
Ludwig Flowers. Over the years, Jim served as regional director of FTD
and president of Interflora.
Jim, Jr. joined the company in 1975. Over
the next years, the business expanded into the North Hills of Pittsburgh,
first to the McKnight-Seibert Shopping Center, and then into Northway Mall.
We became known as Jim Ludwig's Blumengarten.
Four generations of Ludwigs at the FTD
convention in Atlanta, 1978: Ed, Baby Drew, Jim Jr. and Jim Sr.
In 1990, Jim Jr. and his wife, Linda, purchased
our current building in Pittsburgh's
Strip District. It was originally
intended to be a centralized hub and offices for our other stores.
However, during the '90's we found that the economy of one centralized
location suited the logistics of the flower business quite well. After
70 years downtown, we moved out of the Koppers Building, and we now have only this one
location.
 Our Strip District store puts us
in a unique position to service our customers who contact us by phone and
internet from all over the world. The Strip District is centrally
positioned for city-wide delivery. We are located close to floral
wholesalers and suppliers, and can often fulfill the special requests of our
customers on short notice. Low overhead and large warehouse space in
our current building allows us to provide value pricing in all our products.
We have adequate space and large walk-in coolers to accommodate flowers for
any holiday or large special event.
Jim and Linda Ludwig with Merlin Olsen and
Bob Norton, Chairman, FTD, Inc. at the FTD convention in Orlando, 2003.
We were
honored to receive the FTD "Progressive Florist Award" for 2003 at the FTD
convention in Orlando, Florida.
Our friendly staff looks forward to hearing from
you and serving you! |
