Nuneaton’s longest running flower shop has shared the secret to its remarkable anniversary. Next month, The Floral Box celebrates an incredible 75 years of being in business
It was first established in 1950 by the Hadley family and was taken over in 1992 by Karen Gibson, who is still behind the counter to this day. Her journey to taking over the helm of the Manor Court Road shop started when she was just 15.
“When I was at school, there was a florist setting up on Marston Lane and I lived locally so I went up to her (Gina the then owner) and said ‘do you need a Saturday girl?’ and I started doing Saturday work,” she explained. “After that I worked on a wholesale market selling all the floristry sundries, I did that for years and years.”
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It was while she was working on the wholesale market in Stoke Heath in Coventry that led to her to finding out about the Nuneaton florists. “I met a lad who served the fresh flowers and I did the artificial flowers and he used to go out in the van to all the shops and he said ‘I have had a word with Winnie and Eric and I have told them that if they ever wanted to retire, I know someone, you need to give her first dibs’.”
The couple did go on to retire and they stuck to their recommendation and Karen took over in October 1992. Speaking to CoventryLive, the grandmother-of-three explained that she has seen a lot of changes over years but a key to her success was trailblazing flower delivery on a special day.
“About three years after I opened, my mum was talking about delivering flowers on Christmas Day and I said ‘Oh I don’t think there will be any call for that’.”
But she decided to go for it and was stunned with the response: “I got about 30 orders, I couldn’t believe it,” she explained. “I panicked as I was on my own then and I was worried I wouldn’t get them all done.”
They proved to be not only so popular but so well received that she decided to offer the same the next year: “I started advertising it, bearing in mind then there was no such thing as Facebook, so I got some boards for outside the shop.
“From then we were doing about 100 every Christmas Day for years, it was all word of mouth really.” The Christmas Day delivery remains a much-loved feature of The Floral Box – but there are others including the obvious Mother’s Day and Valentine’s Day.
The Floral Box is not only famed for its colourful boards but also being Nuneaton’s oldest running flower shop
Whatever the occasion, The Floral Box’s hand-tied flowers in water are the most popular: “They are our biggest sellers,” the 57-year-old explained.
“They are definitely the most popular. Years ago you wouldn’t have even dreamed of that, you had an old fashioned bouquet in cellophane with a coloured bow on.
“We still do them, we do have regulars who specifically ask for it. I say to them ‘we do open bouquets now’ but then they say ‘I would like it in the cellophane’.
“I’d say we still have half a dozen people that still like the old fashioned flowers and we are happy to do them, we like doing them still, we are an old fashioned traditional flower shop.”
With more than 30 years at the shop, she explained that one specific floral arrangement remains her favourite: “I really enjoy funeral work. I get people that phone up or pop in the shop and say ‘oh thank you ever so much for the wreath or flowers, they were so lovely, it made the send off’, and it is just really nice to hear.”
She still has the same passion for floristry as she did when she was a teenager and takes a huge amount of pride that the shop has been a mainstay in the ever changing face of Abbey Green.
Anyone who has ever been stuck at the traffic lights at the bottom of Manor Court Road at its junction with Midland Road will have spotted The Floral Box – mainly for its eye catching and colourful boards outside. “People sit there for a few minutes and just look at all of the boards,” the Collycroft resident said.
“People know us for them. We change them for all of the seasons and we have already put the Christmas Day ones out and we have already seen people looking at them.”
Karen Gibson, pictured with staff at The Floral Box, which is celebrating its 75th anniversary
She has, for the past quarter of a century, been assisted by a dedicated team led by her ‘right arm woman’ Lisa-Marie Austen. “She just happened to come by the shop one day and asked if I had any Saturday work going and asked me to keep her in mind,” Karen explained.
“I was thinking about taking someone on so I phoned her up and said ‘when do you want to start?’ And it has gone from there, she has been with me a good 25 years now.
“She is my right arm. She is fully qualified to run the shop when I am not there and I don’t know what I would do without her.”
In the face of a surge in online flower deliveries, the business is still going strong and Karen has no intention of retiring.
“I want to carry on, hopefully,” she joked. “We have been so lucky, we have some really loyal customers and we love seeing new faces too.
“The Hadley family also still visit us when they are in the area and enjoy sharing some lovely Floral Box memories with us too.”
Special celebration
To mark the 75th year anniversary, the shop is offering people the chance to win one of three handtied in water bouquets delivered to their home – but there is one catch.
“We want nominations for people who were born in or before 1950,” the businesswoman said. “So many people remember when the Hadleys first opened it and we want to celebrate that.
“We have people come in saying that they had their wedding flowers done here years ago and they have brought in photos, one from a couple who got married in 1956 and another in March 1954.
“It is so nice that The Floral Box has been part of so many lives and we want to celebrate that.” The competition is running on The Flora Box page on Facebook, where nominations can be made.
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