1-800-Flowers.com Acquires Shari's Berries

LongIsland.com

1-800-Flowers.com acquired Shari's Berries from FTD through auction.

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1-800-Flowers now owns the Shari's Berries brand.

Photo by: Courtesy of 1-800-Flowers.com

1-800-Flowers-.com has acquired the Shari’s Berries brand from FTD through one of its subsidiaries, continuing to grow its already extensive portfolio of products.

The Carle Place-based company closed the deal after placing the highest bid at an auction held July 31 for certain assets in FTD’s gourmet food business.

Shari’s Berries, which claims to have sold more than 175 million berries, had previously been operated by Provide Commerce LLC, a division of FTD.

“Shari’s Berries enjoys strong brand awareness among consumers as a leading provider of dipped berries and other specialty treats and it has a rich heritage in the gourmet gift industry,” 1-800-Flowers.com CEO Chris McCann said in a written statement.

He said the acquisition includes certain assets of FTD’s gourmet food business, such as more than 450 domain names, copyrights, trademarks, customer data and other intellectual property.

McCann said 1-800-Flowers.com will add the Shari’s Berries brand to its “unique multi-branded website” and plans to gradually “reposition the brand to customers as a premium provider” of dipped berries and other gourmet foods.

"Our initial focus will be on improving bottom-line performance for the Shari’s Berries brand by leveraging the unique capabilities of our business platform to reduce the brand's program costs and improve its operating efficiency,” he said in a written statement.