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Look inside: May 2005
Sorry, No Carnations or Babies Breath Here! |
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Written by Anja Sonnenberg
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Peaseblossoms Ltd.
Sorry, No Carnations or Babies Breath Here!
At a Glance:
Company Name: Peaseblossoms Ltd.
Owners: Theresa and Terry Balak
Location: Calgary, Alberta
Website: www.peaseblossoms.com
Years in Business: 10 years
Facility Space: 550 sq.ft.
Design Style: eclectic/modern |
Theresa Balak, owner of Peaseblossoms Flowers & Stuff, had a great deal of imagination when she was considering purchasing the heritage building on 17th Avenue for her flower shop. Located in downtown Calgary, Alberta, the building and neighbourhood needed a lot of work, but ten years later, it’s now become a thriving shopping destination.
“When we took over the location, it was definitely an area that was on the brink of a transition,” Balak says. The heritage building itself is unusual in Calgary. During the 1970s, what was left of the old city, was torn down to accommodate new buildings. The 550-sq.-ft. building, which was built between 1908 and 1912, adds a certain rustic charm to this trendy little flower shop.
Balak has been working in the floral industry for 23 years, and has owned Peaseblossoms for ten of those years.
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| Peaseblossoms Flowers & Stuff is located in a thriving shopping neighbourhood in downtown Calgary, Alberta. |
“When I decided I was going to open my own shop, I had to do it in a big way,” Balak says. “Although when I first started in the floral business, I thought only someone who was absolutely nuts would decide to open their own flower shop – I guess I’ve gone nuts.”
Specializing in eclectic/modern design, Peaseblossoms’ customers have a huge assortment of flowers and greenery to choose from – sorry, no carnations or babies breath. Balak describes her clientele as being very mixed.
“We’re in a high density neighbourhood. There are a lot of young people moving into their first apartment, we have condos, which attract urban professionals, and we get a lot of ladies who lunch,” Balak says. “Some people spend less than $10 with us, and some spend more than $100 – so it’s very mixed.”
With such a diverse range of clientele, Balak has tried numerous methods of advertising over the years.
“We only have the one liner in the yellow pages, which has our name and phone number. I’ve tried print advertising in different ways, and I’ve found that you just don’t know how successful it is,” says Balak. “We did a stint of radio advertising at a public radio station in the city. It was a non-profit radio station, which seemed to work and target my audience, but it’s not affordable anymore. Even a year after we stopped putting the ad on the air, people would stop and say they heard our ad on the radio.” What Balak has found works best for Peaseblossoms is marketing directly to people. “Getting our flowers out there where people can see them at different events in the city is excellent,” Balak says. “If someone asks me for a donation of a bouquet for a ballet opening or theater, where we can display our cards, then I definitely take advantage of it. If people see us and like us, then they are going to notice what we do, and give us a call.”
Peaseblossoms also uses their web site to attract new and old customers.
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| Specializing in eclectic/modern design, Peaseblossoms’ customers have a huge assortment of flowers and greenery to choose from – sorry, no carnations or babies breath. |
“We were one of the first few florists in Calgary to get a web site. We don’t sell through our site, but we do use it as an advertising tool where people can get a little more information about us,” says Balak. “It’s well worth the money. People often phone us and tell us they choose us because they liked our web site. It helps people get a sense of the flavour our store.”
Competition is something that all florists have to deal with, whether it’s from grocery stores or other florists, and Peaseblossoms is no exception.
“I think Calgary has the most florists per capita in all of Canada. I would say five or six other shops of the same calibre are our real competition in the city,” Balak says. “There’s always room, especially if you’re doing something that’s unique and different. We don’t do FTD, we don’t do silk, we’re strictly fresh flowers and plants. We really focus on one thing. You can’t do everything and do it well, so I decided when I had my own store, I wanted to do what I really liked doing, and focus on that. People appreciate niche marketing, they know what they’re going to get when they come to us – it’s been good that way.”
Everyone at Peaseblossoms takes great pride in everything they do at the flower shop, from all the flowers that come in, to the care and time spent processing them, to designing, and eventually to double-checking orders going out. Special attention is given to wrapping flowers as they leave the shop for delivery.
“I use to work for a man who told me that, if the wrappings aren’t bombproof when the flowers go out, then you can expect to have complaints,” says Balak. “It takes a few extra minutes in the winter time to make sure it’s all wrapped with tissue paper and plastic, but we get very few complaints.”
“It’s worth going the extra mile, instead of having to scramble and backpedal,” Balak says. “People who are happy tell their friends, but people who aren’t happy REALLY tell their friends and everyone else they know. Give them more than they expect and everyone will be happy.”
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