Flowers a-Go-Go
Paulo Carvalho grew up helping his family at My Flowers to Go, and now it’s his shop.
His family lived behind his mother’s florist in the West End: “We were always exposed to the business. Once I became a teenager, I became more involved,” says Carvalho. He started making deliveries and setting up for weddings after he gained his driver’s license at age16. Later, Carvalho worked for 22 years in the call centre industry, which involved a lot of travel. When his job was moved out of Winnipeg, he decided it was time for a change: “I thought this would be a nice change of pace.” He took over the store last year, although his 72-year-old mother still comes in a few times a week to arrange flowers.
Located by Health Sciences Centre, Children’s Hospital, and Women’s Hospital, much of the shop’s business comes from customers checking for a florist close to a hospital. Carvalho frequently delivers get-well bouquets and gifts to customers wishing them good luck for their surgery. “We try to stay positive, go in there with a good energy, and we unpack the flowers and set them up in a good location,” says Carvalho. While online ordering is important for the business, he thinks that the opening of the new Women’s Hospital this fall might encourage more hospital visitors to pick up items like an “It’s a boy” or “It’s a girl” balloon on their way in. Conveniently, My Flowers to Go offers free one-hour parking in a family lot for customers who buy a bouquet to take to the hospital.
“Technology has allowed us to find new customers online,” says Carvalho, noting the neighbourhood’s demographics have changed over the past 30 years, with some of his mother’s traditional customers moving to the suburbs. The shop still provides flowers for traditional weddings: on an average summer weekend you can likely find him working on a church wedding with six bridesmaids and six groomsmen. The shop also offers wedding licenses, and Carvalho is licensed to officiate weddings. He has married couples at the hospital. As well, sometimes a couple wants a quick, no-nonsense wedding, which can even take place at My Flowers to Go.
Providing a better backdrop for wedding photos is one reason Carvalho will renovate the store this year, with plans to open up the space and install new flooring to create a boutique atmosphere. It’s another evolution over past decades that includes stocking more gift items like baskets and balloons, as the margin on flowers has come down.
Carvalho recommends prospective business owners research their market and their location, and come up with a one-year to five-year plan going in, with a budget that will last for that long. “Look for history on a similar business in the area. If a similar business has failed four times over the past 20 years, there might be a reason,” he says. And sometimes there’s a reason a shop stays in business for over 30 years.
All Photos by Kristhine Guerrero
