Happy New Year

2013 already; where does the time go?

We hope you all had a wonderful, happy and healthy Christmas and that 2013 brings you much joy and all you could wish for.

Now the New Year for many is a time to make changes (out with the old; in with the new) but we have decided to pretty much leave things as they are. As they say “if it aint broke, don’t fix it”. This seems to work as far as we are concerned. Last year was the best year we have had since we first began trading back in 2006; to us this is amazing with the economy being what it is, so the last thing we would to do would be to change what appears to be a winning formula. That doesn’t mean we will be sitting back and resting on our laurels though. Oh no. We do have many new ideas that we feel will only aid and add to the service we are already supplying, and take pride in.  We are also planning on a special one off item later in the year, but I will wait until nearer the time to share that with you all.

For the past year (I can officially say that now as I put the wheels in motion in 2012) I have been working on new selection guides for the shop (for all occasions – there will be General Floral Gifts, Weddings and Sympathy).  Normally these have to be bought from either the relay service you belong to (a bit difficult when we don’t belong to one) or from specialist florist wholesalers (that will sell to anyone). While these have done us proud and been more than useful for the past few years, they are generic for every florist in the country. None of the photos in the guides are of our work (and some of them are pretty hideous – I’ve no idea how anyone would allow them in a guide) so I have been working on guides that are purely of our work; there will be nothing in them that hasn’t been made by one of us in the shop. Not only will this be more personal for us when we are going through ideas with you, it will also show you what we are capable of. So many times I’ve had people in the shop that have been elsewhere and ordered an item from the guide they’ve been shown, only to receive something that looks nothing like they have ordered. This is because anyone can buy the guides they are using; but just because they can show you the pictures, doesn’t mean they are capable of making the items.  By personalising ours you will know that we can make anything in the guides, as we have already had to make them to photograph them in the first place.  It’s a sad fact of life that ANYONE can buy the guides, open a shop and take your money from you, without them having the first clue what they are doing. Just as you get cowboy builders that haven’t a clue, sadly you also get cowboy florists.

Those of you that have visited the website will know already that there is nothing on the site that hasn’t been made by one of us; the guides we will be using in the shop will be exactly the same.

The website will be getting a bit of an overhaul too (although Clive doesn’t know this yet). The set up will stay the same but I’d like to try and make it a bit more interactive if that’s possible.  If any of you have any ideas of bits you’d like to see on there, then don’t hesitate in letting us know.  As I’ve said many times before (and will no doubt say many times again) without we would have nothing, so your input is always greatly appreciated.

For now can I thank you again for your continued support and wish you all a very Happy 2013.