Jim McCann - 1-800-Flowers Founder | The $1.2B Flower Empire That Almost Failed

Success Story with Scott D. Clary

Success Story Media

Business, Careers, Self-improvement, Education, Entrepreneurship

4.6 • 1.9K Ratings

🗓️ 23 March 2025

⏱️ 86 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Jim McCann is the founder and executive chairman of 1-800-Flowers.com, a company he grew from a single flower shop in 1976 into a multi-billion-dollar business. Under his leadership, the company became a pioneer in e-commerce and direct-to-consumer floral delivery, generating over $2 billion in annual revenue and serving millions of customers worldwide. McCann also expanded the brand through strategic acquisitions, including Harry & David, Cheryl’s Cookies, and The Popcorn Factory. A best-selling author and entrepreneur, he is known for his focus on customer relationships, innovation, and leveraging technology to transform the gifting industry.

Transcript

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0:00.0	I went into it not only to be a forest, which of course I became, but I went into it to try and build a business.
0:05.1	So that's why six months after I bought the first shop, we opened the second shop.
0:09.0	Jim McCann is a pioneer who revolutionized the flower industry.
0:12.3	From a small flower shop in New York to founding one 800 flowers, he transformed how people buy and send gifts.
0:17.7	I wanted to force myself to build a company.
0:20.3	We're not at my dream
0:21.2	point yet. We're still going. We still have a ways to go. I kept my full-time job when I bought
0:26.2	the flower shop. I didn't have any savings or assets. It was important to me that I'd be able to pay
0:30.9	a mortgage. So if I was awake, I was working. But I realized there was no economy in owning a bunch of flour shop. I had 40 flower shop when I realized, hey, this isn't really working out that well.
0:39.9	In 1986, he made a bold move, purchasing the 1-800-flowers number, setting the stage for nationwide expansion.
0:46.4	By the early 90s, he was ahead of the curve, making won 800 flowers, one of the first retailers online through CompuServe, AOL, and later won 800 Flowers.com.
0:55.1	Still learning every day, which is it's all about relationships.
0:59.6	And you don't have a relationship with a group of 10.
1:02.2	You have 10 individual relationships.
1:04.2	It took a while for me to get that.
1:06.0	Today, as executive chairman, Jim continues to shape the brand's future.
1:09.5	He's an investor, speaker, and minority
1:11.7	owner of the New York Mets. This episode is about vision, innovation, and taking bold risks.
1:17.1	Successful not just to find his business success, but our journey in life is always trying to be our best self.
1:22.5	Work is a lot more than a paycheck. It's also very, very social.
1:32.8	Welcome to Success Story. I'm your host, Scott Clary.
1:37.3	The Success Story podcast is part of the HubSpot podcast network, but HubSpot doesn't just have great podcasts. If you're an entrepreneur, if you're a builder, they've got your back. Now,
	...

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