Austin Flower Shop News
Petals, A Florist relocates to new storefront on Preston Road in Plano - Community Impact Newspaper
Sunday, February 28, 2021Olivia Lueckemeyer graduated in 2013 from Loyola University New Orleans with a degree in journalism. She joined Community Impact Newspaper in October 2016 as reporter for the Southwest Austin edition before her promotion to editor in March 2017. In July 2018 she returned home to the Dallas area and became editor of the Richardson edition. ... https://communityimpact.com/dallas-fort-worth/plano/impacts/2020/09/24/petals-a-florist-relocates-to-new-storefront-on-preston-road-in-plano/
In Loving Memory: Obituaries Of The Week January 31, 2021 - Smokey Barn News
Sunday, February 28, 2021Springfield High School Class of 1984. Stephanie went on to obtain her bachelor’s degree from Middle Tennessee State University, a Master’s degree from Peabody at Vanderbilt, a Master’s degree from Austin Peay State University, and her EDS from Tennessee State University. She worked with the Robertson County Board of Education for 32 years, first in Special Education and then she retired in December of 2020 as the Assistant Director of Schools. She was a member of Springfield Kiwanis and served on the Robertson County Scholarship Foundation Board of Directors. Stephanie enjoyed gardening, especially wildflowers, and her pets.Stephanie is survived by her parents: William Herman “Buddy” and Linda Adkins Mason of Springfield, and by her brother: Stephen Mason of Springfield.If so desired, memorial contributions may be made to the Robertson County Scholarship Foundation in memory of Stephanie Mason and may be sent c/o Robertson County Funeral Home.Tribute WallRobertson County Funeral Home in charge of arrangements.Obituary for Lisa Gaye GillLisa Gaye Gill, age 58 of Springfield, passed away Thursday, January 28, 2021 at NorthCrest Health. Her remains are to be cremated and no services are planned at this time in accordance to her wishes.Lisa was born December 28, 1962 in Springfield to the late Rayburn and Ruby Gamble Bugg. She was of the Baptist faith and worked in the local factories for many years. She loved her family, especially her grandchildren. She loved animals and enjoyed sewing and going to yard sales. In addition to her parents, she was preceded in death by a brother, Rayburn Bugg, Jr. and a sister, Melissa Dawn Bugg.She is survived by her husband, Eddie Gill of Springfield; daughter and son-in-law, Amanda and David-Paul Benton of Springfield; son and daughter-in-law, Robert Michael and Melissa Gill of Springfield; brother, Steven Bugg of Texas; and grandchildren, JaMarion Gill, Elizabeth Jean Benton, and Caleb Lee Benton.a href="https... https://smokeybarn.com/in-loving-memory-obituaries-of-the-week-january-31-2021/
‘Are You The B**** That Stormed The Capitol?’: Florist Bombarded With Hate, Mistaken For Shop Owned By Capitol Rioter - CBS Chicago
Sunday, February 28, 2021People say, ‘I’m just here to troll you.’ It just shows you the ugly side of humanity I guess,” said Alberti.READ MORE: Shots Fired At Police In North Austin“Like, I’m just trying to help run a business and do what I do from day to day, and yet I have to get hate and being called a terrorist and things like that,” said Mitchell.What started with one one-star review for an order the Roseville store never even took, has now spiraled out of control.“Even the one in England, or Scotland I believe, they’re getting the same thing and they’re not even in this country,” said Alberti.“So little could be done to fix this and it’s crazy that it’s even happening,” said Mitchell.Perhaps even more crazy, Alberti says while they rack up bad reviews, Cudd’s social media is gone along with all her bad reviews.“When I woke up Google had removed all of them. So now she has a five-star rating, nobody can leave any reviews for her but they can still do it to us,” said Alberti.Becky’s Flowers has a warning to customers on its website stating:MORE NEWS: Ed's Driveway: Ford Mustang Mach-E“ATTENTION: Our shop has NOTHING to do with the Becky’s Flowers in Midland, TX or any affiliation with Jenny Cudd. Our shop is in California. We did NOT storm the Capitol Building.”... https://chicago.cbslocal.com/2021/01/15/capitol-riot-beckys-flowers-president-trum/
Flower Businesses Persist Despite Postponed Events - Spectrum News
Wednesday, December 02, 2020Studies point to a connection between presence of flowers and happinessSam Eberhardt owns Cassiopeia Farm, a small flower farm located behind her home in Austin, with her husband Dan Poole. The two spent the spring and summer watching florists cancel flower orders as weddings and events were postponed due to pandemic social distancing orders.“It seems like initially events – they didn’t just halt completely. People were still kind of holding out, holding hope that we would be able to hold events, but then eventually people realized, ‘okay,’ that we couldn’t have events,” says Eberhardt.But despite those cancellations, they say they didn’t face massive losses because orders kept coming in, just from other places.“COVID has sort of been a mixed bag for us. A lot of our flowers eventually end up in the hands of florists – maybe they go to a wholesale house first and then they end up at a florist – but florists have had a pretty large drop in business because of COVID. They aren’t doing weddings and events anymore. Our flowers aren’t going to them, instead they’ve been going direct to consumer and some to wholesale, but direct to the consumer through the farmers' market has been our main sales outlet this year,” says Poole.Sam Eberhardt (left) works with a farmhand to prepare plant beds for spring 2021. The farm's flowers have been harvested for fall and the small farm doesn't grow in the winter. (Spectrum News 1/Megan Vaughn)“I think people were really enjoying getting out to the markets, it was a safe outdoorsy thing to do during COVID. I heard a lot of people mention how it was important to them to support local farmers and ranchers, just keeping the money locally in trying to support the small businesses. And then directly I heard a lo... https://spectrumlocalnews.com/tx/san-antonio/news/2020/11/17/small-flower-businesses-persist-despite-postponed-weddings-and-events
Sales aren't blooming: Florists adjust during pandemic - Delaware State News - Delaware State News
Wednesday, December 02, 2020She added it has been able to slowly bring back some of the staff.The loss of workers has made the busy weeks even more stressful.“It’s been exhausting,” Mrs. Fries said. “The few of us that are here are doing the work of more people. There’s only so much we can do with this staff so our inventory is smaller than usual.”... https://delawarestatenews.net/coronavirus/sales-arent-blooming-florists-adjust-during-pandemic/
'HOOSIERS WE'VE LOST': Lifelong florist never hesitated to help those in need - The Republic
Wednesday, March 31, 2021Sheets Editor’s note: This is one of a continuing online series of profiles of the more than 12,000 Hoosiers who have died from COVID-19. The stories are from 12 Indiana newspapers, including The Republic, who collaborated to create the collection to highlight the tremendous loss that the pandemic has created. The series appears daily at therepublic.com.Name: Dawn SheetsCity/Town: IndianapolisAge: 93Died: April 16Dawn Sheets never hesitated to help a friend in need.Sheets, a lifelong florist, had no formal medical training, but when her friend Maxine Hessong needed kidney dialysis treatment, Sheets taught herself how to operate a dialysis machine so Hessong’s husband Dale could continue working.For more than a year, Sheets made three to four trips a week to Methodist Hospital to care for her friend, offering support and companionship during Hessong’s procedures. Eventually Hessong came home, and Sheets continued to run her machine, even showing Dale the necessary steps in the process.“She cared about people,” daughter Lori Arment said. “She cared about people’s feelings and their well being.”“That’s one of the highlights of her life to be able... http://www.therepublic.com/2021/03/30/hoosiers-weve-lost-lifelong-florist-never-hesitated-to-help-those-in-need/
Washington court rules against florist in gay wedding case - Albuquerque Journal
Sunday, February 28, 2021The case thrust the great-grandmother into the national spotlight and she testified before state lawmakers in Indiana and Kansas.Michael Scott, a Seattle attorney who worked with the American Civil Liberties Union to represent Robert Ingersoll and Curt Freed — the couple denied the flowers — had previously told justices he didn’t believe Stutzman’s floral creations constituted speech. By providing flowers for a same-sex marriage, he argued, “she’s not endorsing same-sex marriage. She’s selling what she sells.”Ferguson had said the state’s argument rested on longstanding principle, and uprooting it would weaken antidiscrimination law.After the arguments in the Supreme Court case last November, at a packed theater at Bellevue College, a large crowd of Stutzman’s supporters greeted her outside, chanting her name and waving signs that said “Justice For Barronelle.”In a February 2015 ruling, Benton County Superior Court Judge Alexander Ekstrom found that Stutzman’s refusal to provide flowers because of sexual orientation violated Washington’s anti-discrimination and consumer protection laws. The following month, Ekstrom ordered Stutzman to pay a $1,000 penalty to the state and $1 in costs and fees.Stutzman entered the florist business 30 years ago, when her mother bought a flower shop.At a press conference following the ruling, Ferguson said that under Washington law, a business is not required to provide a particular service, but if it does so for couples of the opposite sex, it must provide that service equally to same-sex couples. Ferguson noted that Stutzman is not currently selling wedding flowers, but if she were to resume that side of her business, she would not be allowed to sell to only heterosexual couples.“The state Supreme Court has made that very clear,” he said.___AP writer Gene Johnson contributed from Seattle. ... https://www.abqjournal.com/951260/washington-court-rules-against-florist-in-gay-wedding-case.html
Small Business Spotlight: E. Stephen Hein - www.smileypete.com
Sunday, February 28, 2021Birmingham. In more recent years, his work has been seen at the annual Fabby Abbey Ball, a benefit for KET held at Spindletop Hall.
Hein first came to Lexington in 1961 from his home state of Indiana. While attending Evansville College (before it became the University of Evansville) in the late ’50s, he got an offer to become an ice skating instructor in Terre Haute, Indiana. Then he was hired by Crystal Ice Palace, located in Lexington’s new Gardenside Shopping Center, in 1961. The developers of the center, Pierson-Trapp Co., operated the outdoor skating facility in winter and had a swim club called Cabana Club during the summertime, both of which closed around 1964.
Those same developers invited Hein to join as a managing partner in the Villager Gift Shop, he said. For several years, Hein ran the retail store: a bridal registry shop with gifts, antiques, an art gallery and framing department. The Villager Gift Shop was advertised in national magazines like House & Garden and House Beautiful, and gave Hein his first experience buying beautiful silk flowers, which had become available to the gift market “just after the horrible episode of awful plastic flowers for homes,” he recalled. By the time he changed the name of the shop to E. Stephen Hein, Inc., customers were coming in requesting silk flower arrangements en masse.
“I had to do an arrangement like I knew what I was doing,” Hein said with a laugh, recalling his early foray into floral arranging.
Over the next two decades, the gift shop in Gardenside closed and Hein became involved with a couple of other businesses and jobs, including a stint at W.P. Pemberton & Sons Greenhouses.
“I didn’t know what was going on with that shop, but I thought I wouldn’t mind going in to learn the flower shop business,” he said. It turned out that they were looking for a manager. Building off his experience with silk flower arrangements, he soon learned how to work with natural flowers and plants, and in 1987, he left Pemberton’s to open his own shop.
Today, Hein’s floral shop has turned into a true family affair, with his granddaughter, Kelsey Hein Smith, having worked alongside him since graduating from Eastern Kentucky University in 2017. A floral designer and the store’s social media manager, Smith calls her grandfather PoPo – except during business hours.
“It’s weird to call him Steve,” she admitted.
Thoughtful, artistic expression has always been appreciated in the floral business, and remains a staple of Hein’s business model. While centerpieces and corsages are less common than they were at the start of his business, sending flowers across town – or even across the country – remains a popular action, and Hein can help with both. Some of his loyal clients utilize his services not only for local flower delivery but also to coordinate out-of-state arrangements for funerals or special occasions.
“We know what to say to the other florist, the dos and don’ts of what to use and what not to use,” Hein said, explaining that his clients appreciate his specific aesthetic. His penchant for communicating the specifics of that aesthetic when “calling out” orders to other florists hasn’t gone unnoticed, as the shop has often been lauded for orders that Hein helps coordinate across the country.
Former and fellow florists have also expressed their gratitude to Hein over the years.
“They have told me that when I set up shop in Lexington in 1987, I raised the bar for what florists do to make a show with their flower arrangements,” he said. “I thought that was a very nice compliment.”
E. Stephen Hein Florist is located at 380 E. Second St. More info is available at www.estephenheinflorist.com.
... https://smileypete.com/community/small-business-spotlight-e-stephen-hein/
Josh Bilicki, Rich Mar Florist and Lemons of Love Bring Cancer Awareness to the Roval - Kickin' the Tires
Wednesday, October 28, 2020Outlet Super Store (BOSS), Custom Fiberglass Molding, Insurance King, and Fort Worth Screen Printing on board.In 18 NCS starts this season, Bilicki has a best finish of 25th twice coming at both Indianapolis Motor Speedway and Kansas Speedway.The Bank of America Roval 400 NASCAR Cup Series race will take place on Sunday, October 11th at 2:30PM ET. It will be televised on NBC.?????? pic.twitter.com/6JAfZs8YFQ— Josh Bilicki (@joshbilicki) October 7, 2020Photo Credit: Josh Bilicki Racing... https://kickinthetires.net/nascar/josh-bilicki-rich-mar-florist-and-lemons-of-love-bring-cancer-awareness-to-the-roval/