3 minute read
It Will Burst into Bloom
business COMMUNITY
Poppies Flower Shop blossoms with boutique flowers By Christina Fuoco-Karasinski
Natalie Gilliland has always loved flowers because of their beauty and the creative ways in which she can arrange them.
After she and her husband, Michael, retired from their commercial landscaping business, the goal was to open a flower shop.
Gilliland couldn’t wait.
In October 2019, she opened Poppies Flower Shop in Tempe. Nearly a year later, on September 1, Gilliland is moving it to Norterra to be closer to her Anthem home.
“I had always wanted a retail store,” she says. “I have always loved flowers and plants. I’ve played with flowers for as long as I can remember. It’s a creative outlet for me.
“I’ve wanted a boutique flower shop, something that wasn’t a traditional type of flower shop. You can pick up a dozen red roses, fill out a card and leave. But I wanted something more boutique, like in a very small town in Europe. You walk in. There are a lot of loose stems, not a lot of premade stuff. Customers can pick and choose what they want.”
Traditional flowers like daisies, roses and carnations will be aplenty, but Gilliland will specialize in novelty flowers like sweet peas, peonies, blushing bride protea, ranunculus and irises.
“You get the traditional roses with the baby’s breath,” she says. “I want to keep the usual stuff. I have gorgeous white snapdragons right now—the stuff you can’t pick up at the market. When you come into my store, I want you to have an experience.
“The girls and I are well versed in the different types of flowers and how long they’re going to last. Some flowers and plants are fussy, some like direct sunlight, some like partial sunlight. We’ll show you how to care for them and when to change out the water.”
Gilliland’s goal is to educate her customers because, then, everyone is happy. She’s especially interested in offering tips about succulents, such as water them infrequently and keep
them out of the sun and heat.
Poppies will also have a small garden area, so Gilliland can get the “best of all my worlds.”
“We’ll have small plants and small succulents,” she says. “Customers can pick out succulents and pot them here if they like. We can also help them pot it, or they can take it home and make a mess themselves in their kitchen.
“We have all different varieties of eucalyptus Natalie Gilliland opened Poppies Flower Shop in Tempe last October. She will move her and all the different shop to Norterra on September 1. (Photo by Pablo Robles) greens you need to put together an arrangewould always talk about my grandpa’s dog. ment. It’s a one-of-a-kind experience. It’s like “When I was coming up with the name, you’re strolling through those shops in Europe. I thought about my favorite flowers. I love You can walk out holding 20 loose stems of sweet peas, but then I came across poppies. whatever you want.” My grandfather was an entrepreneur. That’s
Poppies Flower Shop arranges flowers for all of his entrepreneurial genes in it.” events, namely weddings and corporate afIn Gilliland’s signature line of her email is fairs. Locally sourced gifts will be available “Isaiah 35:2.” A line reads, “It will burst into at the store. bloom.” Her faith is going to help her make
“It goes naturally with if you’re coming in Poppies Flower Shop a success. to get flowers for a girlfriend, you can pick up “We’re Christian,” she says. “Whenever God a book or a candle, or things like that,” she has a plan for you, you just roll with it. That’s says. “We’re featuring all local vendors, with how the flower shop came about. I can’t stop. the exception of books. I couldn’t find local You just have to roll with it. vendors for books. This makes it really unique “Owning a business is stressful, especially and special, versus going into a big-box store.” when COVID hit. The event market died. The
Gilliland grew up in Southern California blessing in all of that was it allowed us to focus and moved to Arizona after high school. She our time on the retail side and opening this recalls, during her childhood, hearing stories store.” about her grandfather’s dog, affectionately named Poppy, hence the shop’s name. Poppies Flower Shop
“I love poppies,” she says. “I love the red The Shops at Norterra poppies because I love red. But Poppy was my grandfather’s dog’s name. He died when I was young, so I don’t really remember, but my mom 2450 W. Happy Valley Road, Suite 1147, Phoenix, 480-649-7100, poppiesflowershop.com
