Alma Flower Shop News
Local flower shop shares story of surviving the pandemic on Small Business Saturday - ABC15 Arizona
Wednesday, December 02, 2020CHANDLER, AZ — "Very proud to have this shop, very proud every day," said Lori Williams, owner of Flowers by Renee at the corner of Alma School and Queen Creek roads in Chandler.The shop has been around for 29 years in the East Valley."I've been the owner for five years, but the shop has been at this location for 21."Williams, along with her daughter Mellissa and her grandchildren Olivia and Nathan, has made their flower shop a community gathering. They befriend just about every customer who walks in the door. Williams says the pandemic has made this small business' survival a bit hard."We did have a decline in house accounts we service some of the major hospitals and those were shut down, so that was a little tough," said Williams.Williams adds that surviving the pandemic is all due to the nine employees she has. She proudly states she hasn't laid anyone off even though her business has taken a hit."I think the employees are the backbone of the business. They are the ones that make it happen... So I will do everything in my power to make sure that they are taken care of in return," said Williams.According to the S... https://www.abc15.com/news/region-southeast-valley/chandler/local-flower-shop-shares-story-of-surviving-the-pandemic-on-this-small-business-saturday
From blocking aisles to hiding Christmas decorations, Winnipeg's big retailers stash non-essential goods - CBC.ca
Wednesday, December 02, 2020Retailers had until Saturday to remove them from shelves or rope them off, but many had done so by Friday. Blue containers and tarps block customers at a Winnipeg Walmart from accessing a section of the store. (Ian Froese/CBC) The Safeway in Osborne Village had cleaned up their flowers, stuffed a giant snowman balloon into a bag that looked too small and draped plastic where the Christmas decorations and greeting cards were sold. Blight said the floral arrangements brightened her day. She rushed into the store Thursday to buy a poinsettia, in case it wasn't there by Friday. "It's very sad," she said of the lack of greenery at Safeway. "Flowers make every space look cheery." At a Walmart in Winnipeg's Garden City neighbourhood, some aisles are blocked by boxes of chocolate, cereal and dog food. In some places, they treated plastic or tarp as if it was a wall. About a third of the supermarket was inaccessible, such as the furniture, home decor, bedding, sporting goods and office supply areas. It was rows and rows of goods you can no longer buy. "I didn't think it was for real," Tahnee Flett said. "Only essential things? How can you just buy essential things?" She wanted new Christmas decorations and a television, but she returned to her vehicle with her shopping list intact. Tahnee Flett left Walmart Friday afternoon with $200 'worth of junk' rather than the Christmas decorations and new te... https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/winnipeg-new-shopping-restrictions-non-essential-goods-blocked-off-1.5810683
Berkeley Florist Remains Bitter That It Can't Do Curbside Sales While Whole Foods Sells Flowers Next Door - SFist
Sunday, July 05, 2020Bay Area has been growing as the initial virus panic fades, and after eight weeks in which big-box retail stores and grocers like Walmart and Whole Foods have been allowed to remain open, often selling "non-essential" goods.On Monday, flower shops in San Francisco, San Mateo, and Marin counties will get to reopen for curbside pickup and sales along with the vast majority of other retailers, but the same will not yet be true for three other Bay Area counties and the City of Berkeley where stricter, Phase 1 sheltering orders are remaining in place a bit longer (pending any new revised orders from those counties' health officers). That isn't sitting well with Ashby Flowers co-owner Marcy Simon, whose Berkeley shop sits next door to an Amazon-owned Whole Foods location, where flowers are also for sale. Ashby Flowers has been allowed to stay open for deliveries only — KPIX reports that other flower shops elsewhere in Alameda County have begun doing curbside pickups but that is not clear from the most recent county health order issued last week. The City of Berkeley's public health department, which acts independently of ... https://sfist.com/2020/05/14/berkeley-florist-bitter-about-curbside-retail-rules/
10 Florists Delivering Vibrant Bouquets for Mother’s Day - The New York Times
Friday, May 29, 2020May 10. (It’s best to order by Tuesday.)An arrangement of anthurium and painted plumosa by Calma, in one of the studio’s Blob vases.Credit...Emma FishmanA pairing of faux palm fronds and faux yellow oncidium.Credit...Elizabeth JaimeCalma, MiamiThe florist Elizabeth Jaime, of the Miami studio Calma, specializes in tropical, Art Deco-inspired arrangements made with statuesque flowers that often have an artificial look: shiny anthuriums, birds of paradise and dried fan palms. But recent changes in flower availability have prompted her to experiment with softer, more romantic compositions with a focus on striking palettes. For Mother’s Day, she will choose blooms in shades of bright pink and yellow, a scheme inspired “by the start of spring,” she says, “and also brighter times.” In order to support other small businesses affected by the coronavirus, she has partnered with the local spa Sana on a wellness gift bundle, in which one of her bouquets will be accompanied by rose-hip body oil and a dry brush kit, as well as the pizzeria Stanzione 87 on a set that includes a bottle of rosé and a spice-infused olive oil. Bouquets from $75.An assortment of specialty orchids, arranged by Fox Fodder Farm.Credit...Nicole FranzenA bouquet of seasonal spring blooms including daffodils, hyacinths and scented geraniums.Credit...Nicole FranzenFox Fodder Farm, New York, N.Y.In March, as businesses in New York began to close, Taylor Patterson, the founder of the Brooklyn-based floral design studio Fox Fodder Farm, which specializes in textural, naturalistic compositions of mostly locally sourced blooms, was sent a photo of one of her arrang... https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/02/t-magazine/mothers-day-flowers-delivery.html
After 125 years, Manatee company delivering fresh flowers differently - Sarasota Herald-Tribune
Friday, May 29, 2020If the flower you're looking for isn't at the main office ready to be shipped out to a retailer near you, it's probably at their 30-acre greenhouse facility, which sits on 300 acres of land near Palma Sola Bay. It's at 11703 40th Ave W, Bradenton, just off Cortez Road before the bridge to Anna Maria Island.The greenhouses are a wonderland of blossoms. Turn one way and you might find yourself hedged in by rows of tulips. Stumble backward and you could suddenly be staring into a purple sea of peonies and bougainvillea.The company ships to a variety of retail chains and independent garden centers. You can find Manatee Farms products at more than 150 retail florists throughout Florida, 50-plus independent garden centers from Naples to Central Florida, and at supermarkets, such as Albertson’s and Safeway, as well as wholesalers and brokers nationwide.Flowers and feelingsThough the business depends on executing the logistics of delivering fresh products, Preston is equally comfortable talking about the value of what Manatee Fruit Co. brings to its customers.“Flowers are a business of feelings," he said. "There’s a saying that flowers are the language of love, and they really are. When you think about the unspoken word, the word you can never really say, you can say that with flowers.“Flowers fulfill that moment when no one really knows what to say, and we’ll always need that.”That's the message of the company's latest transformation.Hurricane Irma slowed the rollout of the company's re-branding effort last year, damaging several buildings, including greenhouses and a packing house that was built in 1926. But by April the new Manatee Farms brand was fully formed and public with a new look, feel and focus as well as name.Cortez Floral and Manatee Floral, two companies under the umbrella company Manatee Fruit Co., were consolidated.Beyond fresh, sustainably grownManatee Farms now is offering “choices that matter” to consumers that care about how the products they buy are produced. The goal is to attract, engage and inform consumers and to be as transparent as possible about where and how their flowers are produced.Robert McLaughlin, chief sustainability and marketing officer for Manatee Farms, has largely spearheaded the re-branding.“This is the decade of responsible choices, and that resonates with consumers,” McLaughlin said. “We focus on eco-friendly flowers and plants, ensuring that they are certified so that we can ensure that every flower is held to certain standards.”According to Manatee Farms, its eco-friendly flowers also are good for the people who work on the farms that grow them and means that “every purchase helps improve the lives of farmworkers by providing fair wages, health care benefits, education programs and employment of women.”The company requires that farms they work with have sustainability certifications, such as USDA Organic, Rainforest Alliance or Fresh from Florida. According to the company, certified farms employ 60 percent women and are far more likely to offer higher wages and produce higher standards of living for their workers.Many of these farms also use integrated pest management as opposed to heavy pesticides, meaning that more common-sense, long-term practices are used to achieve the same results. Examples are vacuuming pests out of plants and using organisms like spiders to eat harmful pests, such as thrips, which puncture and damage plants.Getting the word outIn an effort to create a more direct link between customers and its product, the company is placing interactive digital kiosks in some stores that can help educate consumers about where their flowers come from.“We want to create a source for the consumers so that we’re reaching out in different ways and allowing access to all this information right in the retailer,” McLaughlin said.The ultimate goal is to attract customers, engage them, inform them and send them to the retailers that carry the Manatee Farms brand.Fo... https://www.heraldtribune.com/news/20180611/after-125-years-manatee-company-delivering-fresh-flowers-differently
Guys, Get Your Pre-Game Going for Valentines Day! - Patch.com
Sunday, February 09, 2020Elm Grove, Snapdragon Flowers provides fresh, beautiful flowers and plants for people, events and occasions. Its team of floral professionals includes Lead Designer Jenn Breitbach, the Wisconsin Professional Designer of the Year for 2019. More information is available by calling (262) 782-8380, visiting www.elmgroveflowershop.com, or following Snapdragon Flowers on Facebook. https://patch.com/wisconsin/brookfield-wi/guys-get-your-pre-game-going-valentine-s-day
Upper Dauphin’s Macklin Ayers, Steel-High’s Mehki Flowers selected to Pa. Football Writers’ Class 2A All-Stat - PennLive
Saturday, January 18, 2020Fleming, the nation’s top recruit who signed with Ohio State last week, is one of eight Tigers to be selected, including a trio of linebackers in Michigan State-bound Cal Haladay, Preston Zachman (Wisconsin) and Max Tillett (New Hampshire).Southern Columbia won its third straight PIAA championship earlier this month, defeating Avonworth 74-7 at Hersheypark Stadium.Fleming caught 72 passes for 1,538 yards and 23 touchdowns in his final season to become the state’s all-time leader in yards and receiving touchdowns.Since 2009, sports writers who cover high school football around the Commonwealth have overseen the all-state process. Players are nominated in all six classifications, and then a statewide ballot is issued to afford all writers the opportunity to cast their votes.Upper Dauphin’s record-setting athlete, Macklin Ayers, joined Steel-High’s Mehki Flowers on the team’s defensive side. A tremendous two-way talent, Ayers accounted for 3,230 yards (1,960 rush) and 48 touchdowns at quarterback.The Tri-Valley League player of the year also contributed 107 tackles, five sacks and three interceptions as a linebacker, guiding the Trojans to a District 3 title and state quarterfinal berth against Southern Columbia.Ayers set single-season and career marks for rushing yards and combined yards.Flowers, who starred as a wide receiver and defe... https://www.pennlive.com/highschoolsports/football/2019/12/upper-dauphins-macklin-ayers-steel-highs-mehki-flowers-selected-to-pa-football-writers-class-2a-all-state-team.html
The 5 best florists in Washington - Hoodline
Tuesday, July 23, 2019York FlowersPhoto: York Flowers/YelpYork Flowers, a florist and floral designer spot in Friendship Heights, is another go-to, with four stars out of 56 Yelp reviews. Head over to 5023 Wisconsin Ave. NW (between North Fessenden and North Garrison streets) to see for yourself.5. House of FlowersPhoto: Mary A./YelpFinally, if you're Downtown, check out House of Flowers, which has earned four stars out of 51 reviews on Yelp. You can find it at 710 14th St. NW (between North New York Avenue and North G Street). https://hoodline.com/2019/02/the-5-best-florists-in-washington
Police logs: Flowers stolen from grave - Wisconsin Rapids Tribune
Tuesday, June 25, 2019Karen Madden Wisconsin Rapids Daily Tribune Published 1:44 PM EDT Jun 18, 2019 Wisconsin Rapids » At 8:33 a.m. Monday, a Wisconsin Rapids woman reported someone tried to use her credit card to purchase shoes. » At 8:53 a.m. Monday, a caller reported someone camping in the woods at Ward Johnson Park, 3100 North Ave. » At 9:46 a.m. Monday, a caller reported a traffic crash near the intersection of Lin... https://www.wisconsinrapidstribune.com/story/news/2019/06/18/wisconsin-rapid-police-logs-flowers-stolen-grave/1485530001/