Florist News

Id better introduce myself aswell, forgot to post in this thread.

My name is Rob and im 29ish

Moved to Holland about 2 years ago, after meeting a dutch girl.
So I had to do something here for work, looked around for awhile and noticed you can either be in the cheese business or flowers and I chose flowers!

Started working for a flower exporter in Aalsmeer flower auctions, if you havent been here before its worth a trip, it sure opened my eyes to what goes on in this trade.

So now I sell flowers to shops in the UK and Ireland, so my Dutch isnt very good as Im speaking English allday. The company I work for is A van der Boon if anyones heard of it.

Thats about it..

Hi,
My name is Hugh Atkinson and my wife is Jane. We own a shop here in Newfoundland, Canada and have been very active in the florist boards here in North America - www.floristboard.com and www.flowerchat.com since the late 90's. We have been in business since 1985 and are anxious to exchange new ideas with fellow florists and have built our business this way. Since my family came from England and Scotland to Newfoundland in the late 1800's I have a personal interest and like hearing the different ideas and ways that things are done there. Our websire is www.Atkinson-Flowers.com .
Hugh

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Hi my name is Joan, I have had my first shop for 26 years,well 27 this November. We now have two shops,must be mad.!!
My husband Jeff and I started as a greengrocer with our 11month old baby,Jodie, in the pram in the shop. The locals used to take her for walks,bless them. Jodie now works part time with us,we take it in turns to work and look after my grandson Jake. We decided to become florists because there wasn't a florist locally,we've never looked back.Best job in the world!! Best finish now 'cause I can talk for England.

Hi Joan, good to see somebody joining the chat.

Where abouts in the UK are you based ? Its unusual (even nowadays) to find an area withiout a florist. Glad to hear that you enjoy things so much still in the flowers. I've been in the trade myself for 24 years and still enjoy it. (except the mornings !!)


How about posting a few pictures of the shop on the forum ?

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Hi there Hugh & Jane.

I'd seen you had posted on a couple of other UK websites, and thought it was good to see a "foreigner" taking an interest in this forum.

How are you finding things at the moment ?

Is the Canadian mothers day the same as it the states ? (2nd Sunday in May) If you you are probably just getting over the fun and games.

chat to ya later.

Gringo.......

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Hi Gringo,
I try to take part in all the florist forums I can find, presently 1 Canadian, 2 US and 2 UK ones. I believe there are great ideas everywhere.
Being former members of FTD and Teleflora I've taken part in various floristboards since 1997 including the SAF board (US society of Florists) - which was scuttled by SAF because we florists were complaining too much about the WS (wire services) and how much influence they had there; the FTD Members only board - that was again scuttled but by FTD itself because we were asking the wrong questions.
We're presently members of Flowers Canada (they have no board yet) where there was too much influence by Grower members and the WS and we retailers have just taken it back and have control of it now.
As you can see some of us aren't afraid to mix it up .
Yes, Mother's Day here in Canada is the same time as in the US and we had our best in our 21 years. Strangely, in spite of economic conditions here (we have about 15% unemployment because of huge problems with the fishery in the North Atlantic) it has been busy all year and it's been busy with funerals - we do about 200 a year. School's out soon so they'll be buying flowers for teachers, hopefully!
I hope all the lurkers out there join and contribute; we florists only mix it up when someone tried to mess with our business otherwise we're a friendly, helpful lot. I look forward to visiting here most days (evenings).
Hugh
PS If your wondering about the 'Rock' handle, it came from the fact that I was the first florist (actually I'm not, my wife is the designer, I'm the marketer, buyer, planner etc) to be a member of the boards from Newfoundland and we affectionately refer to Newfoundland as the Rock (in the middle of the Atlantic!) so it was only natural.
H

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Hello to all of you, just thought I had better make my first posting and introduce myself. My name is Sue and I am a full time florist and have recently opened my first shop after working in the industry for several years.

Hi sue,welcome to the industry,bless you, you are in for the time of your life if you are commited and work hard. You have the best job in the world,believe me I've triedthem all.wish you all the luck in the world.jbxx

Hi Sue, Welcome to the forum.

Good luck with the shop, and I hope all is going well.

Where abouts in the UK are you based ?

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Hello all

My name is Sarah, I'm 23 and live in Cheshire. I've always loved flowers and plants. I've been working in florists since leaving school, I trained and completed my NVQ 2 and 3 over the years. I'm trying to finish my A1 assessers award at the moment.

I've worked in florists around Cheshire and Manchester. I love wedding work and creating unusual and exciting designs.

I'm trying to avoid the world cup at the moment - not big football fan

the forum seems like a great idea, hope it all goes well