WOMEN GROWING EMPIRES PROFILE: Bricks, Mortar, Heart and Soul at Periwinkle Flowers

Periwinkle Flowers

Tell Us About Your Shop:

Periwinkle Flowers is a retail flower shop. We work with mostly local grown blooms and design bouquets and arrangements for all occasions, including weddings and corporate functions. The shop itself is filled with fresh flowers, quirky houseplants plus a curated selection of maker made ceramics and housewares. We're about colour and happiness and helping people bring joy into their lives!

Before this business, did you have experience that prepared you for running a brick and mortar shop?

Prior to running Periwinkle as it exists now, I co owned a flower shop with the same name with a business partner for 13 years. We pretty much made all the mistakes you could make- wrong location completely, so not enough traffic, plus the neighbourhood didn't match our aesthetic; we didn't create the right network of people around us; we got stuck in the technician part of the business, the making, and weren't able to do the more important working ON our business; we regularly got stuck in analysis paralysis. My business partner walked away to pursue other things & I made the choice to start over and use the experience of failing to propel me into creating a shop that was exactly what I wanted it to be.

What is most challenging?

My biggest challenge is definitely getting feet in the shop. We have several strands of business- event work, corporate and much of the daily flower sales are by email or phone. My focus is primarily on getting the in shop retail part to function better, which means constantly trying things, learning what works and what doesn't, adjusting, testing, and sometimes letting go of things that should work on paper but just don't in the real world.

What surprised you most about your business?

How much it means to our clients and people in the community! A client's daughter did a school project on "community helpers" and she did it all about me and the shop. People stop in to chat and tell us how uplifted they feel when they walk by our displays. We get emails and phone calls telling us how much clients have appreciated not only our flowers but the interaction with us whether by phone or in person. Running a business can feel very head down and insular & sometimes I forget that a shop like this is a living, breathing piece of the community and every time I get reminded of that it brings tears to my eyes.

Is your business seasonal? Do you have good seasons and challenging ones? How do you manage that?

We tend to have a slump in January, July- August and then November. These are months that I'm focused on bringing sales up which is a mix of trying to create more reasons for current clients to come in or use our services plus trying to expand our reach to new clients. Having some slower time is great to allow us to tackle some projects that need a little more time in the shop, but there is plenty of room for growth in these slower seasons. It can feel frustrating at times, slow days that the till doesn't ring are hugely demoralizing, even worse when you've had to have staff in for whatever reason. I try to use them to get laser focused on my goals and get super organized with my marketing plan which helps keep me positive, because at least I am taking action rather than waiting for clients to walk in the door!

Why did you choose this type of business? What is it that you’re most passionate about?

I got into it because I love flowers but couldn't find a florist to work for that was exactly the style of work and the type of workplace I wanted. Now it's more about the retail puzzle to me- I am fascinated with it. How to make each part of the business work is a constant project that fuels me to keep going. Retail isn't for everyone, and I'm surprised it's something I love so much but I really am passionate about brick and mortar small shops and the challenges they face.

How is your customer service better or different than other shops?

Even though we are in the business of flowers, what we are really selling is emotional language. My staff & I do a lot of active listening when helping clients, as there is always a subtext that sometimes even the client isn't aware of & a large part of our job is to help them figure out what it is they are trying to convey through the flowers & then putting together something that conveys those feelings and emotions through colours, textures and form. We don't have many issues with our product, but when we do our complaints process is very considered and loving, if something wasn't right we fix to make sure the person that was supposed to enjoy beautiful flowers get to enjoy them. Often this means apologizing and replacing pieces that weren't actually wrong, but our overall mandate is to have every client experience with us be a joy filled one and that includes the complaint process.

Where can we find you on social media?

Periwinkle Flowers

Name of Owner: Jessica McEwen

Neighbourhood: Mount Pleasant Village

Website: http://www.periwinkleflowers.com/

Address: 661 Mt. Pleasant Rd. Toronto, ON