Floral Images

Dad rented the space before knowing what business to put in it.

The location was prime. Across from the hospital, down the street from a funeral home, two minutes from downtown Guelph. He met with the landlord over coffee, worked out a six-month trial deal, and walked out with a lease. When the landlord asked "So what are you going to do with the place?" Dad said "I don't know, but I know the location's gold."

On the drive to Toronto one day, Mom and Dad were brainstorming. Mom said "It's a no-brainer. It's a flower shop." So Mom went to Vancouver for floral design school while contractors outfitted the shop here. Her sister owned a flower shop for 25 years and came to work with Mom for the first six months, training her on how the business runs. After that, Mom was on her own. That was 1999. Twenty-six years ago.

How we got here

Our family's always been in business. Before the flower shop, we ran a small chain of video stores from Guelph to Oshawa. When Rogers and Jumbo Video came in and technology shifted from VHS to DVD to streaming, we sold the last shop and found this location. The timing just worked.

We're East African by way of Gujarat, India. Mom was born in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Dad in Mombasa, Kenya. That heritage shows up in small ways. Like sweeping the shop first thing every morning as our grandparents always believed a good sweep starts the day fresh and clears bad energy from yesterday. Or the way we approach community work, we're part of this city, so we show up for it.

Who designs and delivers your flowers

Mom designs. She's the youngest of the three designers at 26 years experience. Maureen and Vicki each bring 45+ years in the floral industry. Between the three of them: over 100 years of combined knowledge.

Business development, ordering, logistics, delivery coordination, corporate clients, that runs through our son who grew up in this shop. He also brought Full Circle Events into the mix ten years ago, which handles weddings and large-scale events in the GTA and Toronto area.

We deliver six days a week across Guelph. Homes, hospitals, businesses, schools, funeral homes. The phone is set up so someone's always available to take your order, morning or evening. We run the business with the Lovingly system, which means you get updates throughout the delivery process.

What you'll see if you visit

Bubblegum pink exterior. Painted it last November for our 25th anniversary after a massive interior renovation during the last pandemic lockdown. Some people worried existing customers would think we were under new management but the popposite happened: new customers found us, old customers stayed.

Inside you'll find flowers getting prepped, music playing, designers working on arrangements with the kind of attention to detail most people don't take time for. Trimming each stem for symmetry, adjusting spacing by millimeters, reworking an arrangement if it doesn't feel right. That level of craftsmanship takes time and we take that time.

What we support

Catholic school graduations at the Basilica Church of Our Lady (20 years running). Guelph General Hospital across the street. The Homewood. Aga Khan Foundation, Museum, and Ismaili Center in Toronto, we've been part of that property since 2010, providing flowers for major events and private visits. The work the Aga Khan Development Network does globally, building schools and hospitals, focusing on food security and economic development, that matters to us. It's our community.

Between both businesses, the list of schools, institutions, charities, and foundations we support would fill a page.

We're not trying to be the fanciest. We're trying to be the most reliable, the most thoughtful, the ones who answer the phone and deliver when it matters.