Find Your No florists ever want to find themselves having to deal with the loss of their shop, but unfortunately, that’s what happened recently to one Flower Shop Network Member florist. Aut and Connie Fuller, owners of Floral Expressions in Owings, Maryland learned that their storefront burned to the ground after a driver that was under the influence ran off the road.
“It was about 2 a.m. when I received the call from the county emergency system saying there was an accident in the parking lot involving smoke,” Fuller said. “On the way to the shop my wife actually saw a picture of our building burning on Facebook, and that’s when we knew it was going to be bad. By the time we got to the shop everything was gone.”
Officers said the vehicle caught fire after crashing into several businesses. The driver of the vehicle, 32-year-old Vincent Troy, was arrested and faces DUI / DWI charges.
Nothing out of the 2400 sq. foot store was salvageable. “You don’t expect your life to change that quick. You can’t really prepare for this type of thing,” Fuller said.
Despite his circumstances, however, Aut was determined to successfully fill an order for a funeral the very next day. Working from a temporary work space with no knives, scissors, or simple things you might take for granted, Aut and his staff pulled off the flower arrangement.
“Yes we just experienced a devastating event but the woman at the funeral was going through much worse. Losing a store is nothing compared to losing a life. I’m glad we could still meet her needs, that’s just what florists do,” Fuller said.
Floral Expressions has seen a tremendous amount of support from their community. From loyal customers, to other businesses, the town has truly rallied behind this shop.
Floral Expressions is now open and ready for business in a new store only six miles down the road from their previous location.
Fuller has this suggestion for other florists: “Always keep up-to-date documentation of your products. Thankfully I had taken about 50 photos of my store the week before for a website video I was working on. You can’t prepare for something like this to happen but having accurate documentation is helpful.”
Floral Expressions has truly persevered through this tragedy. Although no words can really help to ease the loss you bear, everyone at Flower Shop Network would like to say that you are very close in our thoughts this week.
Update: Hard to believe this was 2 years ago, thanks to our family, friends, community and caring florists we were able to survive and thrive. We are back now in our rebuilt location after 13 long months in a temp location, while we never stopped it is great to be back in our home of 30 years. Our customers stayed with us and many more found out about us throughout the ordeal
I think florists are some of the most caring and amazing people on the planet! This just proves it, putting their tragedy aside and worrying about someone else. Just amazing!