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A Look Inside: April 2006
Funky Petals Florist |
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Written by Anja Sonnenberg
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Funky Petals Flower Shop
A Trendy Franchise Flower Shop Continuing to Grow
Funky Petals Flower Shop is a successful franchise
business with five locations in central Alberta (Sherwood Park, St.
Albert, North Edmonton, South Edmonton, and Westlock). Each location
is individually owned and operated, but they all share the Funky Petals
name. Christina Zelman has been the owner of the Sherwood Park
location for five and a half years, but has been actively involved in
the floral industry for the past 10 years.
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Funky Petals offers floral arrangements in unique and trendy
containers that customers will want to use over and over again.
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“I owned another flower shop prior to owning Funky Petals,” Zelman says. Now, as a Funky Petals franchise owner, she has embraced the Funky Petals way.
A dynamic municipality located east of Edmonton, Strathcona County consists of the urban area of Sherwood Park and an extensive rural area. The Sherwood Park Funky Petals is located behind the Ramada Inn.
“Our location, which is about 1,000 sq. ft., is off the beaten path,” Zelman says. “We don’t really get a lot of walk-in traffic; we’ve become more of a destination florist.” The layout of each Funky Petals store is quite similar to remind customers of the connection between each location.
“The stores are open concept and the coolers are against the wall,” Zelman says. The Funky Petal mentality is showcased at each store – chic containers, fresh flowers, assorted tropicals, trendy silks, and fashionable home décor items are displayed throughout. When customers walk into the stores, they quickly realize they’re in a modern and stylish store, not just ‘another flower shop.’
When it comes to design work, Funky Petals Flower Shops have some of the same pieces that are offered at each location through the company’s website, but otherwise each location indulges in their own creativity.
“We do a few standard pieces between the various locations,” says Zelman.
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The layout of each Funky Petals Flower Shop is quite similar to remind customers of the connection between each location.
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“Otherwise we act as individual florists when it comes to floral designs.” Zelman tries to find time to do some design work, but normally she’s occupied with the day-to-day operations of the business.
“I have two full-time florists who do most of the design work, but I do help occasionally during the busy times,” Zelman says. When asked how she would describe their design work, Zelman replies with the company’s motto – living art. “You can definitely describe our designs as living art. One flower, for example, with a little bit of bear grass looped around. We also offer various types of unique and trendy containers that can be used again, instead of a customer wanting to throw them under their sink with all the rest they’ve collected over the years. Our customers have come to expect us to be different.”
Working as a franchise has numerous advantages for each Funky Petals location, especially when contending with competition, the cost of advertising, and purchasing products in bulk.
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| A few standard designs pieces are offered at each Funky Petals location through the company’s website. |
“Word of mouth helps promote our business, but we’ve also done a fair amount of advertising like billboards and bus benches. When customers see the Funky Petals name, it promotes all five locations. As for competition, the five stores work very well together. The locations are far enough apart to cover a large market, which allows Funky Petals to contend with other florists.
“Our competition mostly comes from the higher end florists in town,” Zelman says. “There is definitely a market for the Safeway people, but we don’t market towards them.”
As the Funky Petals name continues to gain credibility as a successful flower shop, Zelman is actively involved in finding potential owners to open new Funky Petals locations.
“I think my passion is aimed towards the retail end of the business and helping others open up other Funky Petals locations. There are definitely opportunities for other stores.” It’s easy to see why Funky Petals has become a success in Alberta – five stores in five and a half years is impressive and as the Funky Petals way continues to gain in popularity, it won’t be a surprise when more locations start popping up in the future.
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