Founding and early years

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 randomly assigned to a trucking brokerage in Wisconsin owned by Curtis Jahn and was used for that company until 1981. In an agreement with Jahn that would later be sharply contested, Granville Semmes and David Snow formed a Louisiana corporation that began to use that number to sell flowers in Louisiana, starting in 1982.^[4] The use of the number would trigger a series of lawsuits.^[4] Their business struggled and that company was dissolved, with its assets going to investors James Poage and John Davis of Texas. The new corporation struggled financially as well.^[4] Its assets were acquired in 1986 by McCann, an owner of several flower shops in the New York City area since 1976, under whom the business saw success and growth.^{[citation needed]}

In 1994, the company bought Conroy's Flowers.^[5] The 1800flowers.com domain name was registered on September 1, 1995.^[6]

In May 2006, Alpine Confections Inc. brands including Fannie May Confections, Fannie Farmer and Harry London Candies were purchased for $85 million.^[7]

In September 2007, it announced a partnership with Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia to produce a line of floral products inspired by Martha Stewart.^[8]

According to the Consumerist in 2008, customers reported unknowingly being subscribed to a "membership" called LiveWell after receiving rebate checks from 1-800-Flowers.^[9]

It had 4000 employees as of 2008, with a market cap of US$119 million.^[10]

In 2009, revenue was US$714 million.^[11] Operating income was US$72.2 million,^[11] net income was US$98.4 million,^[11] assets were valued at US$286 million,^[12] and equity was at 134 million.^[12]

In March 2017, Fannie May and Harry London were sold to Ferrero SpA for $115 million.^[13]

Acquisitions

• March 2005, Cheryl's Cookies^[14]
• May 2006, Alpine Confections Inc. brands including Fannie May Confections, Fannie Farmer and Harry London Candies^[7]
• April 1, 2008, DesignPac Gifts LLC.^[15]
• July 21, 2008, Napco Marketing Corporation.^[16]
• August 1, 2011, Flowerama.^[17]
• August 5, 2019, Shari's Berries^[18]
• August 3, 2020, Personalization Mall^[19]
• October 28, 2021, Vital Choice^[20]
• January 14, 2022, Alice Table^[21]
• May 02, 2023, SmartGift^[22]