I’m closing my Baltimore shop and going all in on FlowerMore! It’s a big change for me, but I’ve been planning it for a while. Honestly, I should have done it years ago. I just didn’t want to lose the community of flower friends I have in Baltimore. The good news is that I have a way to keep the band together. I built another place where we can nerd out on flowers anytime and from anywhere on FlowerMore!
I’ve been gradually reducing floral services out of my shop. It’s been three years since I booked a full service wedding. I dropped deliveries, classes and corporate events. The only business I’m doing out of the shop is seasonal retail on Saturday mornings - my flower hang-out. I slung flowers for over 15 years and loved it. At 50-something, I don’t want to climb another ladder, rent another van or return to another venue for a midnight retrieval ever again. It’s long past time to move on.
I started planning this transition when I sent my first newsletter to the 2,000 email addresses (MailChimp’s limit for their free tier) I had collected from customers two years ago. I wasn’t sure what I was going to do, but I knew I needed to build a bigger flower nerd posse. The list is now almost 10,000 emails and includes people all around the world. That was also when I started recording weekly YouTube videos. My channel now has over 30,000 subscribers and 200,000 monthly views. These are not big creator numbers, but it is something to build on.
So, with an audience to make a pitch make a to, I started FlowerMore, our online community for flower nerds. I knew I would need someway to continue yapping about flowers when my shop was gone. I loved how everybody gathered at my shop and talked about varieties and designs. Engaging with other flower people became essential in my life. I couldn’t let that part of Local Color Flowers go. I’m sad to sell the space, but I’m not leaving my flower friends behind.
I’m so grateful for the thousands of brides, online orders, subscribers and walk-in customers who bought flowers at my shop over the past 15 years. I couldn’t have done the work without the dozens of employees who helped me design and deliver arrangements. I am especially thankful for the hundreds of local flower growers who made my business unlike any other in Baltimore.
This wasn’t a flower shop. It was a place to make flower connections. Like The Red Wheelbarrow, so much depends on local flowers. And that isn’t changing. It’s only getting bigger. I’m filled with joy and excitement for the new way I am making flower connections. Join me and other flower nerds for friendship, designs and adventures on FlowerMore.
Congrats on this next chapter, Ellen! I sent you a private Substack message about the storefront, but you might not see the notification because it's in your message requests -- wanted to make sure you saw it!
You know I am so sad to see the Local Color Flowers chapter come to a close - and so excited for you and all you have built and are building. So glad to be along for the ride, and so grateful to you for amplifying the flower. Xoxo.