Company History

In the early 50's, O. Ben Haley, Jr. and his brother Chuck Haley, Sr. owned and operated a carnation greenhouse in the Denver area. While Chuck managed the greenhouses, Ben worked for the marketing coop known as The Denver Wholesale Florist Company as its General Manager. A floral company in Colorado Springs known as Pikes Peak Floral Company (a small greenhouse with an attached flower shop) was looking for new owners and management. The Haley Brothers along with some other interested parties, elected to make the acquisition. Chuck then moved to Colorado Springs to manage the newly acquired company while Ben remained in Denver continue his work with Denver Wholesale and to oversee the Denver greenhouse operation.

The retail shop was sold quickly and Pikes Peak Wholesale, Florist, Inc. was formed as the marketing arm of Pikes Peak Greenhouses, Inc. Though on a smaller scale, Pikes Peak Wholesale was modeled after the Denver Coop with which the Haley Brothers were so familiar. While sales were made to some retail florists, the bulk of the production was sold to wholesale florists and jobbers across the country.

July 5, 1978 -- Pikes Peak opened its doors for business in Houston as a branch operation of Pikes Peak Wholesale Florists, Inc. of Colorado Springs, Colorado. Houston's economy was booming as had never been seen. Though competition was keen, the investors felt that, with so much direct shipping into the Houston market, a good wholesaler would succeed.

November 15, 1980 -- Following a remarkable reception into the Houston marketplace, the Company decided to open a second store in New Orleans. The operating philosophies and style were to be the same, and the company set out to build a management team that would commit itself to the same end that the Houston store had done two years earlier.

April 30, 1982 -- Pikes Peak of Texas, Inc. incorporated in the state of Texas. with its corporate offices in Houston, and a branch operation in New Orleans, Louisiana.

January 2, 1984 -- Pikes Peak opened its third store in the the capital city of Austin, Texas. Being located within three hours of Houston, Pikes Peak of Austin enjoys the advantage of being able to exchange merchandise inventories with the Houston store, allowing them to offer a broader selection to their customers.

July 6, 1987 -- Pikes Peak opened its wholly owned subsidiary known as Equinox Floral International, Inc. Equinox specialized in the importation of flowers from Mexico and Central America for distribution to wholesale florists throughout the USA.

November 1, 1989 -- Pikes Peak opened its fourth branch wholesale house in Dallas, Texas (Pikes Peak of Dallas) by acquiring the operation of the Dallas Branch of The Kester Wholesale Floral Company, Inc. Pikes Peak has been affiliated with Kester since its inception in October, 1986.

August 1, 1991 -- Pikes Peak of Memphis began its operations as a terminal wholesale florist serving the retail florist market in and around Memphis, Tennessee, bringing the number of locations operating as full-service wholesale florists under the Pikes Peak administration to five.

September 30, 1991 -- Pikes Peak sold its interest in Equinox to one of its premier suppliers, thereby allowing management to concentrate its resources and skills on the further development of its existing full-service wholesale florist locations.

June 30, 2002 -- Finding Pikes Peak of Memphis to be an island beyond the geographical reach of the synergy that is enjoyed by the other operations, PPT sadly liquidated its interest in its Memphis branch.

July 01, 2003 -- Reacting to a strong call from former employees and customers, Pikes Peak elected to re-acquire the operation once known as Pikes Peak of Memphis. The effort to revive Pikes Peak of Memphis was aborted on May 28, 2004.

Today, Pikes Peak of Texas, Inc. has operations in Houston, Austin, New Orleans, and Dallas. All operate as pure terminal wholesale florists with each serving the retail florists in their immediate market area, generally within a 150-mile radius of each store. As a national wholesale florist chain, Pikes Peak enjoys amazing world-wide buying power, which translates into the extraordinary quality and selection for which Pikes has become known. Additionally, the countless synergies that are generated in a chain environment like this are truly remarkable.