This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Business & Tech

Patch Small Business Profile: Bowie Florist

The shop aims to offer value through quality.

Not everyone can say they have a destiny in life—that they were meant to do something.

For Joy Thorpe, it appears as if she was meant to own and run , through the good times and the difficult ones.

Bowie Florist was established in 1966. In the mid-1970s, Thorpe, now 55, began working at the shop when she was 18, staying several years and working for the first owner. Her father offered to buy the shop for her, but she said no.

Interested in local real estate?Subscribe to Patch's new newsletter to be the first to know about open houses, new listings and more.

“I was young. I wanted to do other things,” she said.

Thorpe went on to work for several other florists, along the way developing a sharp eye for color and nimble fingers to easily shape floral arrangements. She came back to work for the shop’s second owner, staying seven years. She again left to do other things. In 1999, when Thorpe heard the shop was for sale, she bought it.

Interested in local real estate?Subscribe to Patch's new newsletter to be the first to know about open houses, new listings and more.

“I just felt it was my time,” she said.

And a good time it was. The shop, said Thorpe, was doing well. She employed a full-time floral designer and two part-time workers.

But things changed. The recession hit. The Internet came. Grocery stores started featuring flowers. And on Feb. 15, 2009, a  in the shop during the middle of the night, apparently sparked by a faulty computer cord, Thorpe said. The building didn’t burn down, but there was enough damage done that it took Thorpe and her husband, Steve, 10 months to restore Bowie Florist and reopen.

Some customers quickly returned, but others didn’t. Now Thorpe, except for some occasional help during the holidays, runs the shop by herself while Steve makes deliveries. Just as when she first bought the shop, she has a mix of customers, including orders for weddings, funerals and individuals. Thorpe said her volume of business, though, is not what she would like it to be.  

While carefully crafting lavender, white and blue floral arrangements for a wedding, she talked about the floral business.

“We cost more than the supermarket, but in the long run what we offer for the money is quality,” she said. “Our flowers don’t sit on the shelf for days. They are delivered fresh every day. We make personalized arrangements. You can’t get those things in a grocery store.”

Thorpe would like to see an upswing in her business. She hopes the economy will improve and that an anchor store will replace the old Giant Food nearby, thus drawing more traffic to the area, which is near Maryland Route 197 and Old Chapel Road.

“Meanwhile, we will just keep on doing what we have always done,” she said, “which is make sure people are happy by the time they leave.”

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?