20-year-old florist opens brick-and-mortar Stevensville shop

Sarah West, 20, celebrated the official grand opening of her business, West Floral Works, on Friday with a ribbon-cutting at her location in the former Lanes Family Restaurant building in Stevensville.

Starting October 22, West spent about six weeks renovating the space with help from her family to turn the old restaurant into a floral studio and retail shop.

She signed the lease at 19, after starting her floral design career at 15 through a creative industries course at Greater Fort Erie Secondary School. She then worked in flower shops and briefly pursued teachers’ college before returning to floral arrangement.

West first considered opening in Chippewa, closer to where she lives, but expanded her search when she could not find a suitable property there, then spotted the Snyder Street building after it had been listed for more than a year.

“By the time I made it to the back room, I was in tears. I knew this was it,” said West.

Her father, Mark, who helped with both the purchasing and renovations of West Floral Works, gave Fort Erie Radio a behind-the-scenes tour of the building. In the back of the new flower shop, there is space for future workshops West is looking forward to hosting in-house, and a DIY cold room built from an old office to keep flowers fresh for weeks at a time.

The building itself is approximately 100 years old, and the renovations, including a new floor, sit on century-old, hardwood logs that make up the base of the structure.

“The floor was a lot of work, but Sarah sort of figured out how to do it, and she wasn’t working, so I’d turn around, and she’d have four or five runs done while I was at work for the day,” he said.

Like many Canadian flower shops, West’s winter supply of flowers is mostly imported from Ecuador and Colombia, but she hopes to source over 90 per cent of her flowers locally in summer, including from Petrichor Petals Co., located just down the road from West Floral Works.

West intends for the shop to stay accessible for customers as prices rise by offering products like small bouquets at lower price points.

“I want to make it an affordable luxury. Even if you want something small, I try to keep such a range of price points. And if someone comes in and says, ‘I want $15 a bouquet,’ I make it happen,” said West.

She has already received offers to supply flowers for weddings, special events and funeral arrangements, with hopes to eventually host classes in-house once more renovations are completed.

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