The staff at Blooms in Hattiesburg consider themselves the kind of people that simply bloom where they are planted.
That being the case, the florist and gift shop will now have plenty more room for that endeavor, as the business is in the process of making its move from Buschman Street – its home for the past 9 years – to its new location at 301 McLeod Street next to The Thirsty Hippo. The move is necessitated by the shop’s steady growth, which eventually began to fill up two locations in the Bakery Building.
“As we looked for our floral side to grow – and it has exponentially expanded over the last few years – we needed a walk-in cooler, we needed more space,” owner Adrienne Hicks said. “We realized a few years ago that we needed to start looking for something.”
About three years ago, the Blooms staff purchased Celebrations, which serves as an event rental company that was originally located in midtown Hattiesburg.
At that point, the employees realized they wanted all their endeavors to be a little closer together – which Hicks said made perfect sense for the new location.
“We looked for a long time, and we finally found this building,” she said. “Warehouse space makes sense; square footage size was probably a little overwhelming in some respects because we’ve never have this much square footage, but we’ve quickly filled this space.
“We got in here, and this space allows us to grow every aspect of the business, including the rental side. So the floral, the garden side, the gift side, the rental side – it’s kind of everything that everybody loves about Blooms is expanding. Every aspect of the business, the space of the building has given us the capacity to do that.”
The new building will allow Blooms to merge the floral side and the event side into a single location to create a more seamless experience for its customers.
“For brides and wedding planners and anybody in that industry, they can to come in and rent, but then also they can have somebody design space if they’re not really sure how they want things laid out,” Hicks said. “We’re starting to kind of expand the role of the rental side, and bridging the gap between florals, event design, and event rentals. So this space will help us do that.”
The new location will officially open on Aug. 31, and the company’s retail booth space will remain open at Longleaf Market on U.S. 98.
Customers can expect the usual Blooms offerings, including ceramics by Peter’s Pottery, floral arrangements, home décor and gift items.
“For customers who need to access gifts quickly, and they live out in west Hattiesburg, then it still gives them an option to go in and purchase pottery and other gift items that we carry on that side of town, versus them having to come all the way downtown,” Hicks said. “But for the full Blooms experience, McLeod Street is it.”
Because of restrictions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Blooms staff will stretch out its grand opening and do things throughout the first week of September to give customers access to all the store’s offerings.
“One of the big concept ideas for Blooms in this location, and having so much more space, is more of a connection with people, and more of a ‘come in and experience the store,’ versus just coming in to buy a gift,” Hicks said. “There are going to be people who just run in and get a gift, but we’ll have coffee service. In the book area, the floral area and the garden side, we have areas that are marked out for people to sit and relax and enjoy.
“They can grab a book, look at the books and enjoy a cup of coffee. At our original location on Hardy Street … people would come in just to be inspired and just to visit. They still bought things, and you have to have sales to have a business, but at the end of the day, our customer following is more rooted in that connection to people. When they come in, there’s a conversation, and you visit, and you walk around the store, versus it’s just about sales. So it’s always been this connection point to people and sharing our story, and their story with us.”
Customers can still shop at the Buschman location until the end of this week, but the store will be fully transitioned to the new location on the expected Aug. 31 date.
“There are a few people that have popped in because they just wanted to know what’s going on, and that’s fine; we’ve allowed customers in,” Hicks said. “We still have a little bit on Buschman, but the majority of our merchandise and product is here (on McLeod).
“Our anticipation is that we’ll shut down (Aug. 28 and 29) in terms of storefront. People can still call and order flowers and we’ll answer the phone, but we’re going to bounce between the two to get that location fully shut down, and then be ready to open (on McLeod St.) on the 31st.”
