Today we’d like to introduce you to Heather Sardela.
Hi Heather, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
We always had this idea of starting our own small business as a flower truck that we could take out to communities and share the beauty of flowers. And with experience in professional floral designs, we decided to give it a shot in Durham, NC.
We sourced a 1960 mint green Ford F100 that was available out of Alabama, and quickly started to make things work in winter 2019 by coordinating pop-up events at local businesses, floral design workshops and delivering holiday arrangements. We’re extremely grateful at the love and reception from the community, which helped us from day one, even throughout COVID, where we had to figure out how to turn our very social idea of taking the truck to pop-ups into one that relied on pickup and delivery orders from our home studio.
Throughout this, we’ve gotten more and more focused on using locally grown products from some amazing flower farmers in the area. This has allowed us to keep our inventory during the growing season as local as possible while keeping more our of dollars within the local economy and representing the seriously awesome and beautiful flowers that talented farms are growing out here.
This idea of local products also permeated in our dream of transitioning into a brick-and-mortar shop. There’s so many amazing products and talented artists in North Carolina that we really wanted to make a concerted effort of expanding our offerings to physical products (self-care, home goods, ceramics, accessories and jewelry) that are 100% sourced from NC-based businesses.
During COVID, we started to build upon the plan of opening up a brick-and-mortar shop. We successfully finished a Kickstarter project to help realize our shop dreams, thanks to +200 plus wonderful backers. By Mother’s Day 2021, we were in our shop at 331 W. Main St, right in downtown Durham in a wonderful art-deco era building that really fit our vibes. We’ve been working out of there ever since, building wonderful arrangements and offering a range of North Carolina goods to our customers.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
We’ve certainly come across our fair share of challenges, but we’ve been able to overcome many with the support of our followers and the Durham community. One of the earliest challenges we had was figuring out how to penetrate the market, and we have been fortunate to have a community of businesses in Durham that are very welcoming. Businesses such as Fullsteam Brewing and Monuts took a chance on us to allow us to park our truck and sell bouquets at their place, which helped our exposure to folks in the area.
COVID required us to pivot significantly and focus on building an online presence to fulfill pickup and delivery orders from our home studio. With no social interactions, this meant no pop-up events and no truck events. We always wanted to transition into a brick-and-mortar shop, eventually. Putting that plan into place was essentially like starting a totally new, separate business entirely. We are grateful for our Kickstarter supporters that have been able to help fund our successful transition into a wonderful little shop in Downtown Durham. Now with products, employees and a physical space to depend on, we’re moving on to the next challenges for our brand and as small-business owners.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
We specialize in low and lush, English garden-style arrangements. I’d say we’re known for pushing more flower-forward arrangements and utilizing locally grown blooms when possible. We challenge all of our florists to make something unique with themes and color palettes that make sense instead of relying on any particular set formula. This means that the same $75 price point for us has countless possibilities and variations that will also in the selection of blooms as we cycle through the growing season.
What matters most to you?
We are most passionate about our devotion to flowers, specifically local flowers, as much as we can supply them. We are passionate about showing people the beauty that is inherit in nature through local flora, in all of their different forms and shapes. We want to show people that it’s a wonderful medium to express meaningful messages to yourself and others, no matter your age, gender, and background.
Pricing:
- Delivery arrangement options start at $45 up to $150
- Pickup arrangement options typically start at $30, but we can do any budget.
- Our physical products range from $5 stationaries to $1,500 fine jewelry items
Contact Info:
- Email: hello@blossomandboneflorals.com
- Website: https://www.blossomandboneflorals.com/
- Instagram: @blossomandboneflorals
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/blossomandboneflorals/
Image Credits
Feature Photo Credit: Camille Hughes
