“Back in 1996, both Ber and I were working in another flower shop in town when I decided that I’d like to work for myself. I was apprehensive about starting a business on my own, but I knew if I had someone with me, it would give me the confidence to give it a go. I thought Ber would be a perfect business partner, but she was only 20 then, and I was 40.
Because she was so young, I asked her to run it by her parents and see if they thought it was a good idea for us to set up a business together. Some weeks later, after Ber had eventually said it to her parents, we set out to look for premises. We found this place, and it took off from there.
In some ways, it has gotten easier over the years, but back then, we used to have to drive to Smithfield in Dublin for the flowers. Neither of us had ever driven to Dublin before, and we were petrified. Our first trip together was in Ber’s Daihatsu Charade. We got lost and ended up in Croke Park! We were both so nervous about driving in Dublin that we had a landmark, a green fence, that we would turn right at after we had taken our left along the quays. That was grand for a time…until the green fence disappeared, which resulted in a complete panic that morning and a couple of wrong turns! It was the making of us, though, and we carried a lot of flowers in my Nissan Micra and Ber’s Charade for a long time. Our first van was a Ford Escort. The arms would be pulled out of you as there was no power steering back then!
Over the years, we have built up the business. When the economic downturn came, we had to forge ahead and keep the door open. We decided if we got a wage out of it, we would be very happy, but our main priority was to keep our service going. We have amazing loyal customers that have kept us going over the years. We have never fallen out over 22 years in business together and have managed to keep our feet on the ground, stay going and do everything with care and attention. You’re only as good as your last order, so we make sure that every order that goes out the door is perfect.”