Conner said purchasing the floral business was the best way to increase his sales. He estimates that he’ll provide flower arrangements to 80 percent of the customers in the city. The purchase price was undisclosed.
“It wasn’t cheap,” he said.
He said Oakley Smith has joined his team of Master Floral Designers and her phone number has been forwarded to Flowers by Roger.
Conner said his lifetime goal, since he opened his business in the basement of his parents’ house, was to be “the biggest and best” florist in the city.
Even though he has had surgery to repair a blood clot in his heart, Conner said he still works six days a week.
“I love what I do,” he said.
The coronavirus, he said, has had an interesting impact on his business. He laid off three employees in the spring, and he and his partner, Doug Thrush, ran the business. Thrush answered the phones, and Conner created the arrangements.
Since then, he said, business has blossomed because people are sending flowers since they can’t visit their loved ones.
He said business in 2020 was up 70 percent over the previous year despite fewer weddings and slower business during Easter and Christmas because most churches were closed for in-person services.
Also, he said, since many of the greenhouses in Florida closed, that severely hampered his ability to purchase flowers and floral supplies.
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