[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 15]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 20608]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




    CONGRATULATING PHILLIP'S FLOWERS AND GIFTS ON BEING NAMED 2005 
 ``RETAILER OF THE YEAR'' BY THE ILLINOIS RETAIL MERCHANTS ASSOCIATION 
                                 (IRMA)

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. JUDY BIGGERT

                              of illinois

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, September 15, 2005

  Mrs. BIGGERT. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to congratulate my friends at 
Phillip's Flowers in Westmont, Illinois. On September 21, the Illinois 
Retail Merchants Association, IRMA will honor Phillip's Flowers as the 
2005 ``Retailer of the Year'' for its commitment to quality, customer 
service, and floral industry improvement.
  Phillip's Flowers deserves to be recognized and honored in this way 
for its many accomplishments. In the 82 years since James and Helen 
Phillip started Phillip's Flowers, it has grown to become a Chicago 
area institution. Since 1923, the founders and their offspring have 
grown and improved the business to the point where it now ranks among 
the top 20 florists in the country in terms of delivery volume. In the 
1980's, Phillip's helped launch a cooperative delivery program to 
expand the business's service reach throughout the region and nation. 
And its service on the American Floral Endowment Board and the Society 
of American Florists has helped shape the floral industry as a whole. 
These accomplishments alone are worthy of this high honor.
  Mr. Speaker, when the late Pope John Paul II visited Chicago in 1979, 
Phillip's Flowers was selected to supply more than 17,000 
chrysanthemums for the occasion. When Chicago Magazine ran its 2002 
Readers Choice Awards, Phillip's Flowers was chosen as ``Chicago's 
favorite florist.'' And when IRMA in 2001 selected the top Retailers of 
the 20th Century, Phillip's was honored among them. These honors and 
superlatives are reserved for only the finest businesses, and Phillip's 
Flowers has clearly deserved them.
  But perhaps most important of all, Phillip's has provided beautiful 
flowers for many of my constituents' most important moments in life--
weddings, bar and bat mitzvahs, and special birthdays and 
anniversaries.
  I congratulate Phillip's Flowers on receiving the ``Retailer of the 
Year'' award, and I wish the people of Phillip's the very best wishes 
for continued success in the years to come.

                          ____________________