Business & Tech
Florist Opens in Time for Big Day
1-800-Flowers Sweetgrass goes in at Market at Oakland.
Lovebirds in need of sweet-smelling roses, bouncy balloons and cute stuffed animals have one more choice in their hunt this Valentine’s Day.
opens Saturday in the Market at Oakland near Park West in Mount Pleasant. The locally owned store brings a nationally known brand to a part of town without a florist currently, the shop owners say.
“We’ve lived in Mount Pleasant for years and we saw the void,” said Thor Storm, who operates the new store with his wife, Jen. “The closest florist is on Long Point Road.”
Interested in local real estate?Subscribe to Patch's new newsletter to be the first to know about open houses, new listings and more.
After years of market research and waiting for the economy to pick up, the couple decided the time was right. They already operates, , a long-time West Ashley florist they purchased four years ago.
Unlike 1-800-Flowers, which has an established online and order-by-phone business, and unlike , which relies on phone orders but not much walk-in business, the Mount Pleasant store will be retail-heavy, Storm said.
Interested in local real estate?Subscribe to Patch's new newsletter to be the first to know about open houses, new listings and more.
“You can see flowers online or in a catalog, but there is something about seeing them in person,” he said. “We’re going to offer the full line of products offered by 1-800-Flowers and then some.”
That little extra includes a special arrange-your-own station that allows customers to select exotic, seasonal flowers for their own personalized arrangement.
The business is opening at a busy time. Tuesday is the largest single-day of business in the world of flowers. (The days leading up to Mother’s Day actually generate the biggest revenues, Storm said.)
“We have ordered 3,000 roses — mostly pink and red,” Storm said. “We’ll use our two trucks and a van as well as some rentals to make deliveries. We’ll have eight men just for deliveries.”
Already, the custom-made cooler at the new is full from floor to ceiling with flowers, and Storm has a cadre of flower arrangers waiting to come in for the day.
The new 900-square-foot shop, Storm said, came about because the economy appears to be recovering.
“We had our eye on this storefront for a while, and then we started to see some activity here, some new businesses opening up, so we thought the time was right,” he said.
An 11 a.m. grand opening is set for Saturday at the shop at 1148 Oakland Market Road. The store's phone number is (843) 284-8265.
Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.