ByVernon Robison
Moapa Valley Progress
The Moapa Valley Chamber of Commerce held an official ribbon-cutting ceremony at the new Flowers on the Blvd store located at 259 S. Moapa Valley Blvd. The store, which was formerly named Days Remembered Flower Shoppe, actually opened under new ownership in December. But store owners Shauna Sprague and Bethany Soderquist said that it has taken several weeks to get things organized to the point for the official opening ceremony.
This week (Feb. 8-13) the store will follow up its ribbon-cutting with a Grand Opening week as it gears up for the Valentines Day holiday on Monday.
Soderquist, Sprague and their families have been hard at work over the past few months in giving the flower shop a whole new look. With new coats of paint, new flooring and newly installed front windows the little store is brimming with country charm.
“I can remember all the way back in the 1960s when this space was a little restaurant,” said Chamber of Commerce Board member Bret Staley who attended the ribbon cutting event. “Through all that it has been, I don’t think that this store has ever looked this good!”
The store has also updated and expanded its inventory and product lines including all new V Chocolates, Mudd Pie baby clothes, Burton & Burton stuffed animals and gifts, Adams & Co. home decor items, a variety of custom gift baskets, candy bar bouquets, balloon bouquets and, of course, floral arrangements. And yes, the store still takes care of dry cleaning service and UPS shipping.
The store has also begun an auto-ship floral delivery program for busy clients who are prone to forgetfulness. Customers can come in and give a series of dates throughout the year when they would like flowers or fits sent out to someone. Then when those times come up, the flowers go out automatically whether the client remembers to call or not.
“We’d like to be the place that local people think of to come buy gifts for whatever occasion,” said Sprague.
The women rattled off a long list of special occasions for which the store could easily supply gifts. These included birthdays, baby and bridal showers, weddings, anniversaries, graduations, retirement parties and many more.
“Most of all we just want people to feel welcome here,” Soderquist said. “We want our customers to feel like they are getting good quality for a good price.”
The store has a comforting, homey feel to it. In large part, this is due to the easy-going friendliness of its proprietors.
Sprague has worked in the interior design field for the past fifteen years, running her own design company. She apprenticed in St. George, Utah and learned all the tricks of the trade including, of course, floral arranging skills.
The two women began working together a couple of years ago when Soderquist hired Sprague to help decorate her home.
“We just really worked well together and got along great,” Soderquist said.
“Bethany has a great natural eye and is very good at flower arranging,” Sprague said. “We are a perfect partnership because the things that I might lack she has and vice versa.”
So when the opportunity came to go in together on the flower shop it was an easy decision. They took over the business in December and have been going non-stop ever since.
“We have been so pleased in our first few weeks with the support of the valley,” Sprague said.
At the ribbon cutting event, Chamber President Jeff Phillips congratulated the two women and presented them with a specially framed dollar bill from the Chamber to be the ceremonial first buck for the business.
“We hope that it will be the first of many,” Phillips said.
