GRAND FORKS – Maureen Riley, the owner of Vintage Greens on North Fifth Street, has long loved giving floral arrangements away as gifts. Her new storefront, open for its first summer, has given her a chance to turn her hobby into a business — and still give an occasional floral gift on the side.
The floral and garden shop opened late last year in a renovated house, and features a handicap-accessible flower shop inside and a free, public garden out front. Riley hopes the location has something to offer for the whole community.
“I want to teach people about flowers, I want to teach people about gardening … have people feel comfortable coming (here),” Riley said. “That’s the most important thing to me about it, honestly, that everybody feels welcome.”
Riley decided to open the store upon recommendations from her friends. She would give flowers and floral arrangements as gifts to other people and they kept recommending to her to make a business selling them. Upon further consideration, she started to sell out of her large garden at home.
Eventually, Riley’s home became too full and she needed more space, so she decided to purchase the north-end house, which she then renovated into the business it is today.
Riley was able to open for “you pick” events at the outdoor garden a little prior to the opening of the inside of the shop. Then, after six months of renovations, Riley was able to officially open the entire business last November.
She said her top priority during renovations was ensuring the building was handicap-accessible.
“The ramp and deck is about as big as the business,” she said. “It’s a tiny little house, but it’s important to me that everybody can get there.”
While smaller businesses are not beholden to the same Americans with Disabilities Act rules as larger businesses, according to Riley, she said it is important to her that everyone can come into her business and have space to move around comfortably.
Riley has also been able to use the outdoor garden to provide free produce to the community. The free produce program is supported by the Garden at Vintage Greens in collaboration with the Community Foundation of Grand Forks, East Grand Forks & Region. The Garden at Vintage Greens donates the land and much of the manpower, but the goal is for the garden to be a community-driven initiative, Riley said. Sponsorships for the garden are available through the Community Foundation.
Madison Dame is an intern studying Communications and Journalism at the University of North Dakota.