Flower Frenzy

Posted 2/19/20

Valentine’s Day is the busiest day of the year for Kalona’s newest flower shop

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Flower Frenzy

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Flowers have become synonymous with Valentine’s Day as an expression of love.

Every Feb. 14, florists are swamped with customers buying everything from single roses to lavish bouquets as gifts for the people they love.

Valentine’s Day was proved to be no different for Kalona’s newest flower shop, Fresh!, located at 508 C Ave. next to the Kalona Public Library.

“Valentine’s Day is a madhouse,” said Scott Allen, who owns the shop with his wife, Denise. “It’s exciting and exhilarating. It’s really fun to see all the people you can make happy all at one time. That said, it’s also exhausting.”

He explained that Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day are the two busiest holidays of the year for florists.

“The crazy thing about Valentine’s Day is that people want it all on one day,” Allen said.

Planning for the big day starts about a month in advance.

“You start planning what flowers you need to order and what supplies you need to order,” he said. “There are certain things you can do to prep ahead of time. You get bows ready and other things like that ready.”

The flowers start coming in about a week before Valentine’s Day, which was a help to Allen because of the freshness of the flowers he gets from his supplier.

“They’re so fresh, they pretty much come straight from the farm to here,” he said. “They are all pretty tight. We have to prepare them all and get them in buckets of water. They have to sit for three or four days before they’re ready to go.”

All the planning and preparation, however, do not completely take away any angst in the days right before the holiday.

“Years ago – and it stays the same today – my wife told me when I get all freaky a couple days before and I’m wondering where all the orders are, she said ‘It’s a man’s holiday. Nobody plans ahead. It’ll all show up on the day of and the day before.’ And she’s right,” Allen said. “I was still nervous yesterday. I didn’t know what to expect.”

Allen has been in the flower business since he was a young man, starting out helping Joyce Niffenegger at her shop, Niff’s Nature Nook.

“In the early 1980s when Joyce was first opening up, I was a kid who liked plants and flowers,” Allen said. “I was a kid who showed up there.”

In 1999, he and his wife purchased an existing shop, The Garden of Eden, on B Avenue where The Raven’s Nest is now located.

“That was an existing floral shop that we bought in 1999,” Allen said. “We added onto it and added a cake bakery. We did flowers and wedding cakes.”

They eventually teamed up with Paula Miller, who owns The Tuscan Moon Grill on Fifth with her husband, Warren.

“Originally, we were the start of the Tuscan Moon’s courtyard,” Allen said. “We put a hole in the side of our building and got together with Paula, before she even knew Warren.

“The Tuscan Moon was a gift shop that carried wine. She wanted to have a wine bar, and we had food.”

It was a good partnership, but it eventually got too big to handle for the Allens.

“We were there for about six years,” Allen said. “It was busy, it was good, but it was way way too much.”

They closed up shop, and Allen went on to become the manager of a flower shop in Pleasant Valley in Iowa City for about a decade.

After that shop closed, Allen was essentially retired.

“I was kind of retired, and my kids said ‘You need to be back in the flower business. All these customers are asking about you and looking for you,’” he said.

However, he waited until Hiffenegger decided she was retiring from her business before opening his new shop.

“It was nuts. I didn’t even know where I was going to land until about Halloween,” Allen said. “This was a complete shell. There were two false walls and a ton of old store fixtures. You couldn’t even walk through.

“In less than six weeks, we did a total rewiring, replumbing, drywall, ceilings and put it all together.”

His goal was to open his shop in time for Christmas in Kalona, which he did, opening on Dec. 6.

Since opening, business has been good.

“It’s been incredible. I can’t believe it,” he said. “I’m not getting rich by any means, but it’s been great. The community has been wildly supportive.”