After setting up shop two years ago in the middle of a pandemic, Creekview Floral Co. is finally ready to host its grand opening on May 13.
“It’s been a bit wild,” says owner Lydia Rekrut, in an interview with ThoroldToday. “Obviously just in terms of supply chain and everything, the schedule has been thrown right off. It’s definitely been different. There’s no real rule book to play by. We’re making it up as we go.”
When Rekrut decided to take over the flower shop on Front Street from its previous owners, she had no idea the world was about to shut down.
“We already had things in place to do a smooth transition and celebrate their retirement but also celebrate our grand opening that spring,” says Rekrut. “At first everyone thought it was a three-week thing so we’ll be able to open in time. We kept pushing things back. Not being able to really have a sort of gathering and celebration, it was not starting with the big bang that we had planned. It was more of a slow ramp-up.”
The pandemic has forced Rekrut to think quick on her feet.
“We’re definitely trying to plan not to plan too much if that makes sense,” she says. “We’re constantly disaster planning and thinking of the worst case scenarios. You just kind of roll with it. I went to school for both floral design and small business and I think I must have skipped the class on pandemic one-on-one.”
In spite of the pandemic, business is still booming. Creekview Floral Co. has even managed to launch a successful bouquet subscription service.
“I think floral is just that sort of thing that everyone looks to, to brighten people’s day,” Rekrut says. “Obviously everyone really needs a lift with all the shutdowns and everything else that has been going on. The event industry has really seen a boom with weddings being on hold and now everybody is coming to us at once.”
Rekrut says that becoming a floral designer happened almost by accident.
“I took a trip to a family wedding in the States and my cousin had a few things going on that left her the day of the wedding without a bouquet,” she says. “I kind of stepped in, and there might have been a Youtube tutorial involved, but I managed to pull it off and everyone said it looked really good. That’s when I thought: ‘Okay, I could potentially consider this as a career.’ I ended up taking the full program at Niagara College and just started working in the industry before I was even out of school.”
Now that restrictions have eased and things have settled down, Creekview Floral Co. is hosting an open house on May 13 as a belated way to celebrate its opening—and its two-year anniversary.
“We’re definitely going to be having some promotional deals,” says Rekrut. “We’ve got a lot of local products, the local growing season is really starting to open up. Some of our local vendors are participating as well. We’ve got some locally crafted products that we carry from other artisans, like we got bath and body products, jewellery, that sort of thing.”
Rekrut says her mindset for floral design has helped her during the pandemic.
“As cut flowers they only last for so long so it really does force you to evolve quickly,” she says. “Things change seasonally too, you’ll have different flowers from one week to the next, you’re constantly changing and adapting. Even in the same bunch of flowers, no two flowers are going to be same. It really forces you to adapt, so I guess COVID kind of plays to those strengths.”
