August 22, 2025 • 10 mins
Meeting every moment with the right floral arrangement and/or gift basket, Nanz & Kraft florists have served the city since 1850. Co-owner Eddie Kraft and his daughter Lydia visited WHAS Radio to shout out their awesome staff and throw a party for their fans.
Listen for details on Saturday's celebration at the Nanz & Kraft location at 141 Breckenridge Lane in Louisville.
Listen for details on Saturday's celebration at the Nanz & Kraft location at 141 Breckenridge Lane in Louisville.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
You know what news Radio eight forty wuhas. Yeah, flowers everywhere.
Everybody says it's time for us to give her her flowers.
That's just a phrase people use frequently in our culture.
I've been using that phrase a long time at NaN's
and Kraft. Did you figure that out? I told you
we're celebrating a company in Louisville for one hundred and
(00:22):
seventy five years. It's NaN's and Craft Florists, Eddie Kraft.
Good to see you, brother, Good to see you, Terry.
That's got to be fun just to drive up every
day of your life and see your family name on
that sign. Yeah, very cool. Hi, Lydia, how are you?
Speaker 2 (00:35):
I'm great? How are you?
Speaker 3 (00:36):
So?
Speaker 1 (00:37):
You were born into this businesses like your daddy? Oh
here pretty much when you were a little kid. You
remember when they said you're going to be in the
flowers business.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
Honestly, he was always pretty good growing up.
Speaker 3 (00:47):
He was like, I want you to do what you
want to do, and then somehow I still ended up here.
Speaker 1 (00:51):
So ultimately you came home.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
Hmm, exactly.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
Well, you guys always do excellent work. I mean people
just know, you know, and we need a bouquet we
need this when that or it's Valentine's or whatever happens
to be. They just know they contact you and something
magical is gonna happen, especially when you walk into I
want to ask you about this walk ins versus like
people ordering online. I like to walk in because I
like to see it. And you guys are so creative.
(01:16):
You have so many people that are creative about it.
So when you hire somebody, is it about their their creativity.
Speaker 4 (01:25):
Yeah, a lot of them are creative or they just
a lot of people are first timers, will start at
the front counter and they just learn and watch the
other designers. But yes, most of them are very very creative.
I mean they make it happen Lydia.
Speaker 1 (01:38):
Don't I see this on that list when they come
out about the best way to make a living or
the best occupation in the whole world, And isn't florist
like number one?
Speaker 2 (01:46):
I don't know, but it should be.
Speaker 1 (01:48):
I think it is because they say it's like it's
there's an inner piece that comes with that.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
Yeah, you get to make a lot of people happy.
Speaker 1 (01:54):
So yeah, it's pretty cool.
Speaker 4 (01:55):
I mean, flowers are about emotion, so you're really helping
people express theirs through flowers, And I tell all my
friends and customers, you know, really think about the card.
Write the card, because I think the stat is like
ninety three percent of people remember the last time they
got flowers and who they got them from.
Speaker 1 (02:13):
Yeah, and yeah, the words on the card matter too.
But the smell of the flowers for days on end
is always good too. Yeah, it's always sad when that
comes to an end, like I's get another day out
of it.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
That's when you got to just come back and buy
some more.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
There you go, that makes sense. How in the world
have you guys kept this business going for one hundred
and seventy five years?
Speaker 4 (02:34):
You know, that's a great question. You know. Henry Nance
came over in eighteen fifty. His daughter, Sally Nance, married
Henry Kraft, who was our great my great grandfather. So
I don't really know, I mean, but other than what
I've read, But you know, in the fifties when my
grandfather took over, that's really when it started to really
become a flower shop and delivering flowers and designing flowers.
(02:58):
Before that, they were really in the ornamental bush business,
so they had greenhouses up until the thirties. In Saint
Matthew's and they shipped everything by rail, seeds, plants, all
that type of stuff, so we really didn't come a
true flower shop till probably forties and fifties.
Speaker 1 (03:15):
But it's still NaN's and Kraft.
Speaker 3 (03:16):
For a.
Speaker 4 (03:18):
Years it was NaN's and Nooner, So originally it was
NaNs and Noner, and my grandfather bought out everybody in
the fifties and he changed it from NaNs and Nooner
to NaNs and Crafts, So it's only been craft since
the fifties.
Speaker 1 (03:32):
Wasn't it originally somewhere around Spaulding Universities.
Speaker 4 (03:35):
It was when they originally came down here, Henry NaN's.
It was right around Spaulding University and it was a
simple greenhouse and he just he really wasn't a floor stan.
He really was growing plants and some shrubs and bringing
in seeds from Europe.
Speaker 1 (03:49):
And then in Saint Matthew's it was all about potatoes
for the longest time, the potato Because I see those
old photos from like the nineteen thirties, right and they'll
say this is where Taylorsville Road is right now and whatever,
and you're going, what Breckenridge Lane, like what and it's
just all potato fields. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (04:06):
So the flower shop or the greenhouses in the thirties
started right at the corner of Breckenridge and Shellyville Road,
went down towards Trinity and Burger King and then back
over to NaN's Avenue. So it was sixty acres of greenhouse.
But past that, like towards the malls, that's where the
potato fields were.
Speaker 1 (04:22):
Yeah. Correct, you guys have just survived. I mean, just
think of all the things have happened in the United
States of America since eighteen fifty.
Speaker 4 (04:29):
Yeah, kind of crazy, pretty war, World Wars, COVID, the Internet,
all of it.
Speaker 1 (04:35):
So let's do to that. Now, what is the rate
of like walking, people, people calling on the phone, or
just people just on their phone ordering? Yeah, how's all
that work?
Speaker 3 (04:48):
So web phone sales is usually about like fifty percent
of our sales. I'd say walking is maybe five to
ten percent, and then the other forty is people calling
on the phone.
Speaker 1 (04:56):
So you still have the phone, got it. It's the
old school answering the phone Hello, and then someone just
says I need something, and then then your creative part
kicks in.
Speaker 4 (05:06):
Right exactly, yeah, or they say I'm looking at your
web page and I wonder what I want.
Speaker 1 (05:10):
Yeah, oh yeah, that's smart too, that works too. And
then so somehow this all goes into a system and
then somebody's got it in a vehicle taking it somewhere
within What is it like pizza? Is it thirty minutes later?
Is it later that day? Or sometimes as they're ordering
for later in the week or whatever.
Speaker 2 (05:26):
So it really depends a lot of times.
Speaker 3 (05:27):
People will order, you know, a few days or like
the day in advance. But we do, we can get
it up to like a two hour delivery window. But yeah,
usually people are ordering the night before the morning of
and sending it later that afternoon.
Speaker 1 (05:41):
Yeah. There's so many things in our universe now that
are just AI created nonsense, things that don't really exist.
But the tactile relationship we have with touching flowers, smelling flowers,
there's nothing like that.
Speaker 2 (05:58):
Very true.
Speaker 1 (05:59):
Yeah, it's true.
Speaker 4 (05:59):
Actually I gave I was at the bank today and
I gave the teller some flowers and she.
Speaker 1 (06:03):
Looked at me.
Speaker 4 (06:03):
She's like, you just made my day or just that simple,
just a simple flower.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
It does it changes the way you feel. I think
your body chemistry changes when you're just around then see that.
So we're celebrating you guys tomorrow tell me about to
get together.
Speaker 2 (06:17):
Yeah, so we're super excited.
Speaker 3 (06:19):
It is tomorrow, August twenty third, from eleven to three.
Speaker 2 (06:23):
It's gonna be a really fun event.
Speaker 3 (06:24):
It is at our store on breck and Ridge Lane,
so one forty one breck and Ridge Lane. We have
a bunch of local vendors that are coming. It's kind
of gonna be like a farmer's market feel, so we'll
have lots.
Speaker 2 (06:35):
Of tents and booths. We have the St.
Speaker 3 (06:37):
Matthew's Police and Fire departments both coming. We have Stone Groove,
a band who's playing. We're gonna have Hurricane's truck serving
snow cones and hot dogs, Barry bagels.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
And the event is to sponsor and.
Speaker 3 (06:52):
A portion of the proceeds will go towards the Arrow
Fund and Hope Scarves, which are two local charities.
Speaker 1 (06:56):
Yeah, I know about both of them. They're both fantastic.
Speaker 3 (06:58):
Yeah, they're both awesome, and we've worked with both them
for a few other things and we love them. They've
been great partners for us, and we love that we
get to kind of work with community and give back
because the community is the whole reason why we've been
here for one hundred and seventy five years. You know,
it's all because of the people around us.
Speaker 1 (07:15):
I remember reading something a few years ago about Elton
John and how much money he spends on flowers a week.
That's true, it's true.
Speaker 4 (07:22):
I know the florists in Atlanta that used to do
all the flowers and it was something crazy like five grand,
seven grand a week, just decked out the house.
Speaker 1 (07:30):
It's just like, that's awesome. Yeah, everybody needs a customer
like that, don't kidding exactly. So what happens now? You're
you're going to continue on Eddie until you decide well yeah,
letty and then somebody else comes along because we can't let.
Speaker 4 (07:44):
This go no no, So we'll see what happens. I've
my daughter, Lydia. I've got another daughter, Madison. My brother
David has a son and a daughter. So we'll kind
of see what happens in the next ten years or so.
Speaker 1 (07:56):
Well. Like I said, I do like walking. I like
people like to go on and talk and hear something
there whatever and say hi to somebody. So that's always
a good thing with your people are really good. Yeah,
they've got that emotional that eq that they know how
to help somebody. Clearly, you've got to be ready because
some people are in some rough times in their life.
Speaker 4 (08:15):
Sure, sure, I mean we see it all from you know,
when a baby is at birth to the end with sympathy,
flowers and everything in between. We're really there for all
of life's moments. What do you get when a baby's born?
That is a baby's breath? No, that's that's the name
of little thing that goes on the side there right,
Usually if it's a girl, we'll send pink flowers, boy
blue flowers, some balloons, a bottle of wine for the
(08:38):
mom because we can deliver a liquor now.
Speaker 1 (08:39):
Yeah, so and mom loves that because she hasn't had
any wine for Oh that's fantastic. Well, looking for to
the celebration torow What time we get started, lydia, So
it starts at.
Speaker 2 (08:51):
Eleven am tomorrow and it'll go till three pm.
Speaker 1 (08:54):
Okay, and then people find you online for all the
ordering we were talking about just in general, just just
Google and NaNs and craft and that gets.
Speaker 2 (09:01):
It done right, yep, exactly.
Speaker 1 (09:04):
Great to see both of you. Thanks Terry, Thank you
so much, so much, and Happy one hundred and seventy fifth.
I appreciate it. That's so awesome. Yeah, how many? How
many businesses in Louisville are older than yours?
Speaker 4 (09:12):
You know, we're in the midst of doing that research. Now.
There's there's a handful that are right around us, but
I don't can't be man for sure. I think it's
under ten. Yeah, Churchill Downs one of them.
Speaker 2 (09:22):
Nope, we're older than Churchill Downs.
Speaker 1 (09:23):
That's right, because they're eighteen seventy something, all right. They
just had their hundred and twenty fifth last year. Yeah,
okay for one hundred and fiftieth. Oh you got them, whooped.
Speaker 3 (09:30):
Yeah, we had a good twenty years on them.
Speaker 1 (09:34):
Lydia and Eddie craft NaN's and Craft Florist Birthday back
celebration eleven till three tomorrow at the Breckenridge Lane Store
in Saint Matthew's. Don't step on anybody's potato plants down
the road. Happy one hundred and seventy fifth Birthday
Speaker 3 (10:00):
At
You know what news Radio eight forty wuhas. Yeah, flowers everywhere.
Everybody says it's time for us to give her her flowers.
That's just a phrase people use frequently in our culture.
I've been using that phrase a long time at NaN's
and Kraft. Did you figure that out? I told you
we're celebrating a company in Louisville for one hundred and
(00:22):
seventy five years. It's NaN's and Craft Florists, Eddie Kraft.
Good to see you, brother, Good to see you, Terry.
That's got to be fun just to drive up every
day of your life and see your family name on
that sign. Yeah, very cool. Hi, Lydia, how are you?
Speaker 2 (00:35):
I'm great? How are you?
Speaker 3 (00:36):
So?
Speaker 1 (00:37):
You were born into this businesses like your daddy? Oh
here pretty much when you were a little kid. You
remember when they said you're going to be in the
flowers business.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
Honestly, he was always pretty good growing up.
Speaker 3 (00:47):
He was like, I want you to do what you
want to do, and then somehow I still ended up here.
Speaker 1 (00:51):
So ultimately you came home.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
Hmm, exactly.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
Well, you guys always do excellent work. I mean people
just know, you know, and we need a bouquet we
need this when that or it's Valentine's or whatever happens
to be. They just know they contact you and something
magical is gonna happen, especially when you walk into I
want to ask you about this walk ins versus like
people ordering online. I like to walk in because I
like to see it. And you guys are so creative.
(01:16):
You have so many people that are creative about it.
So when you hire somebody, is it about their their creativity.
Speaker 4 (01:25):
Yeah, a lot of them are creative or they just
a lot of people are first timers, will start at
the front counter and they just learn and watch the
other designers. But yes, most of them are very very creative.
I mean they make it happen Lydia.
Speaker 1 (01:38):
Don't I see this on that list when they come
out about the best way to make a living or
the best occupation in the whole world, And isn't florist
like number one?
Speaker 2 (01:46):
I don't know, but it should be.
Speaker 1 (01:48):
I think it is because they say it's like it's
there's an inner piece that comes with that.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
Yeah, you get to make a lot of people happy.
Speaker 1 (01:54):
So yeah, it's pretty cool.
Speaker 4 (01:55):
I mean, flowers are about emotion, so you're really helping
people express theirs through flowers, And I tell all my
friends and customers, you know, really think about the card.
Write the card, because I think the stat is like
ninety three percent of people remember the last time they
got flowers and who they got them from.
Speaker 1 (02:13):
Yeah, and yeah, the words on the card matter too.
But the smell of the flowers for days on end
is always good too. Yeah, it's always sad when that
comes to an end, like I's get another day out
of it.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
That's when you got to just come back and buy
some more.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
There you go, that makes sense. How in the world
have you guys kept this business going for one hundred
and seventy five years?
Speaker 4 (02:34):
You know, that's a great question. You know. Henry Nance
came over in eighteen fifty. His daughter, Sally Nance, married
Henry Kraft, who was our great my great grandfather. So
I don't really know, I mean, but other than what
I've read, But you know, in the fifties when my
grandfather took over, that's really when it started to really
become a flower shop and delivering flowers and designing flowers.
(02:58):
Before that, they were really in the ornamental bush business,
so they had greenhouses up until the thirties. In Saint
Matthew's and they shipped everything by rail, seeds, plants, all
that type of stuff, so we really didn't come a
true flower shop till probably forties and fifties.
Speaker 1 (03:15):
But it's still NaN's and Kraft.
Speaker 3 (03:16):
For a.
Speaker 4 (03:18):
Years it was NaN's and Nooner, So originally it was
NaNs and Noner, and my grandfather bought out everybody in
the fifties and he changed it from NaNs and Nooner
to NaNs and Crafts, So it's only been craft since
the fifties.
Speaker 1 (03:32):
Wasn't it originally somewhere around Spaulding Universities.
Speaker 4 (03:35):
It was when they originally came down here, Henry NaN's.
It was right around Spaulding University and it was a
simple greenhouse and he just he really wasn't a floor stan.
He really was growing plants and some shrubs and bringing
in seeds from Europe.
Speaker 1 (03:49):
And then in Saint Matthew's it was all about potatoes
for the longest time, the potato Because I see those
old photos from like the nineteen thirties, right and they'll
say this is where Taylorsville Road is right now and whatever,
and you're going, what Breckenridge Lane, like what and it's
just all potato fields. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (04:06):
So the flower shop or the greenhouses in the thirties
started right at the corner of Breckenridge and Shellyville Road,
went down towards Trinity and Burger King and then back
over to NaN's Avenue. So it was sixty acres of greenhouse.
But past that, like towards the malls, that's where the
potato fields were.
Speaker 1 (04:22):
Yeah. Correct, you guys have just survived. I mean, just
think of all the things have happened in the United
States of America since eighteen fifty.
Speaker 4 (04:29):
Yeah, kind of crazy, pretty war, World Wars, COVID, the Internet,
all of it.
Speaker 1 (04:35):
So let's do to that. Now, what is the rate
of like walking, people, people calling on the phone, or
just people just on their phone ordering? Yeah, how's all
that work?
Speaker 3 (04:48):
So web phone sales is usually about like fifty percent
of our sales. I'd say walking is maybe five to
ten percent, and then the other forty is people calling
on the phone.
Speaker 1 (04:56):
So you still have the phone, got it. It's the
old school answering the phone Hello, and then someone just
says I need something, and then then your creative part
kicks in.
Speaker 4 (05:06):
Right exactly, yeah, or they say I'm looking at your
web page and I wonder what I want.
Speaker 1 (05:10):
Yeah, oh yeah, that's smart too, that works too. And
then so somehow this all goes into a system and
then somebody's got it in a vehicle taking it somewhere
within What is it like pizza? Is it thirty minutes later?
Is it later that day? Or sometimes as they're ordering
for later in the week or whatever.
Speaker 2 (05:26):
So it really depends a lot of times.
Speaker 3 (05:27):
People will order, you know, a few days or like
the day in advance. But we do, we can get
it up to like a two hour delivery window. But yeah,
usually people are ordering the night before the morning of
and sending it later that afternoon.
Speaker 1 (05:41):
Yeah. There's so many things in our universe now that
are just AI created nonsense, things that don't really exist.
But the tactile relationship we have with touching flowers, smelling flowers,
there's nothing like that.
Speaker 2 (05:58):
Very true.
Speaker 1 (05:59):
Yeah, it's true.
Speaker 4 (05:59):
Actually I gave I was at the bank today and
I gave the teller some flowers and she.
Speaker 1 (06:03):
Looked at me.
Speaker 4 (06:03):
She's like, you just made my day or just that simple,
just a simple flower.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
It does it changes the way you feel. I think
your body chemistry changes when you're just around then see that.
So we're celebrating you guys tomorrow tell me about to
get together.
Speaker 2 (06:17):
Yeah, so we're super excited.
Speaker 3 (06:19):
It is tomorrow, August twenty third, from eleven to three.
Speaker 2 (06:23):
It's gonna be a really fun event.
Speaker 3 (06:24):
It is at our store on breck and Ridge Lane,
so one forty one breck and Ridge Lane. We have
a bunch of local vendors that are coming. It's kind
of gonna be like a farmer's market feel, so we'll
have lots.
Speaker 2 (06:35):
Of tents and booths. We have the St.
Speaker 3 (06:37):
Matthew's Police and Fire departments both coming. We have Stone Groove,
a band who's playing. We're gonna have Hurricane's truck serving
snow cones and hot dogs, Barry bagels.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
And the event is to sponsor and.
Speaker 3 (06:52):
A portion of the proceeds will go towards the Arrow
Fund and Hope Scarves, which are two local charities.
Speaker 1 (06:56):
Yeah, I know about both of them. They're both fantastic.
Speaker 3 (06:58):
Yeah, they're both awesome, and we've worked with both them
for a few other things and we love them. They've
been great partners for us, and we love that we
get to kind of work with community and give back
because the community is the whole reason why we've been
here for one hundred and seventy five years. You know,
it's all because of the people around us.
Speaker 1 (07:15):
I remember reading something a few years ago about Elton
John and how much money he spends on flowers a week.
That's true, it's true.
Speaker 4 (07:22):
I know the florists in Atlanta that used to do
all the flowers and it was something crazy like five grand,
seven grand a week, just decked out the house.
Speaker 1 (07:30):
It's just like, that's awesome. Yeah, everybody needs a customer
like that, don't kidding exactly. So what happens now? You're
you're going to continue on Eddie until you decide well yeah,
letty and then somebody else comes along because we can't let.
Speaker 4 (07:44):
This go no no, So we'll see what happens. I've
my daughter, Lydia. I've got another daughter, Madison. My brother
David has a son and a daughter. So we'll kind
of see what happens in the next ten years or so.
Speaker 1 (07:56):
Well. Like I said, I do like walking. I like
people like to go on and talk and hear something
there whatever and say hi to somebody. So that's always
a good thing with your people are really good. Yeah,
they've got that emotional that eq that they know how
to help somebody. Clearly, you've got to be ready because
some people are in some rough times in their life.
Speaker 4 (08:15):
Sure, sure, I mean we see it all from you know,
when a baby is at birth to the end with sympathy,
flowers and everything in between. We're really there for all
of life's moments. What do you get when a baby's born?
That is a baby's breath? No, that's that's the name
of little thing that goes on the side there right,
Usually if it's a girl, we'll send pink flowers, boy
blue flowers, some balloons, a bottle of wine for the
(08:38):
mom because we can deliver a liquor now.
Speaker 1 (08:39):
Yeah, so and mom loves that because she hasn't had
any wine for Oh that's fantastic. Well, looking for to
the celebration torow What time we get started, lydia, So
it starts at.
Speaker 2 (08:51):
Eleven am tomorrow and it'll go till three pm.
Speaker 1 (08:54):
Okay, and then people find you online for all the
ordering we were talking about just in general, just just
Google and NaNs and craft and that gets.
Speaker 2 (09:01):
It done right, yep, exactly.
Speaker 1 (09:04):
Great to see both of you. Thanks Terry, Thank you
so much, so much, and Happy one hundred and seventy fifth.
I appreciate it. That's so awesome. Yeah, how many? How
many businesses in Louisville are older than yours?
Speaker 4 (09:12):
You know, we're in the midst of doing that research. Now.
There's there's a handful that are right around us, but
I don't can't be man for sure. I think it's
under ten. Yeah, Churchill Downs one of them.
Speaker 2 (09:22):
Nope, we're older than Churchill Downs.
Speaker 1 (09:23):
That's right, because they're eighteen seventy something, all right. They
just had their hundred and twenty fifth last year. Yeah,
okay for one hundred and fiftieth. Oh you got them, whooped.
Speaker 3 (09:30):
Yeah, we had a good twenty years on them.
Speaker 1 (09:34):
Lydia and Eddie craft NaN's and Craft Florist Birthday back
celebration eleven till three tomorrow at the Breckenridge Lane Store
in Saint Matthew's. Don't step on anybody's potato plants down
the road. Happy one hundred and seventy fifth Birthday
Speaker 3 (10:00):
At
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