Freshly Cut Florist

It was 1982 when I noticed a new foundation being laid in a vacant lot that was previously owned by the produce market in my neighborhood. This small pie shaped wedge was home to a big billboard, empty cardboard boxes that produce arrived in, and best of all the huge pumpkin patch in October. They had outgrown their current location and were moving across the street to a much larger, vacant store. My husband and I stopped and I started asking a long list of questions about the upcoming building. By the time we drove away I was committed to a new adventure and was soon to open my very own flower shop.

I said it was my neighborhood because I already had a little history here. Previously I had worked at Berkeley Horticultural Nursery and loved shopping in the small food stores in the surrounding neighborhood. I really knew nothing about running or owning my own business, but with the help of my husband, we rolled up our sleeves and came up with a plan. My years at BHN got me hooked on growing perennials and deciduous flowering shrubs that grew best in our garden at home. One thing led to another, a class here and there, and Freshly Cut became a reality.

The flower business was much different in my early years than it is now. Grocery stores did not start selling cut flowers till the 90s, now all grocery stores do. And the San Francisco Flower Mart with its growers and wholesalers was male dominated. Women worked in the flower shops but men did the buying and owned the businesses. These days I think it is starting to reverse, we girls rule the roost.