Business is blooming at Flora Bouquets on Green Bay’s east side

Rachel Kroeger

Staff

November 18, 2024

GREEN BAY – Hard work, perseverance and hustle are things Angela Colmenares – founder and owner of Flora Bouquets LLC (1524 University Ave.) – said she’s always had.

“I got that ‘hustle,’” she said. “If I want to do something, I’m going to get it done. My mom told me, ‘You’ve always been smart and ambitious.’”

Colmenares said she, her parents and her brother immigrated to the United States from Mexico City – where she was born – when she was just four years old.

“When I was growing up, I didn’t have a lot of money with my mom,” she said. “So we would always ‘DIY’ stuff… we were just very crafty. So that was really implemented into the flowers.”

Colmenares said her parents left Mexico to pursue more opportunities and a better life.

“You hear that all the time, but it’s really true,” she said. “I owe it to them to (create) this good life for us and really give them something to feel proud (of) – that it was all worth it to leave.”

After graduating from Preble High School and Northeast Wisconsin Technical College, both with honors, Colmenares said she was looking for a way to supplement her income while working in logistics.

Through social media, she said she stumbled upon accounts posting videos of beautifully extravagant bouquets unlike anything she saw in Green Bay.

Utilizing those accounts and other online tutorials, Colmenares said she began tinkering with store-bought flowers, trying to recreate the bouquets she was seeing online – a process she said proved frustrating.

“At first, I broke a lot of stems, and I’d be like, ‘Why do they keep breaking?’” she said. “I was getting so frustrated. Then I realized, ‘Oh, well, I’m choking them – I’m holding them so tight at the top.’ So I learned to relax my hands a bit and hold them a little lower.”

Colmenares said learning how to build the bouquets was difficult at the time because of a lack of resources.

“I really investigated flower care and how to wrap it and stuff,” she said. “But at the time, there were very (few) tutorials available, or they were in different languages. So it was really hard – I just could watch and kind of implement it.”

The self-taught florist said the more she practiced, the better she got, and through that trial and error grew her passion – and her profits, selling her creations online.

“I really grew this hobby,” Colmenares said. “This is also fun, and it brings money in and I genuinely like creating (bouquets). So it was just perfect. I never thought I’d become a florist.”

Petal to the metal

Colmenares said when she was thinking of starting Flora Bouquets LLC and creating floral designs full-time – a few years after she began selling her bouquets – her family was concerned about her quitting her job – but she was determined not to let that fear stand in her way.

“What am I scared of – reapplying to a different job?” she said. “I was like, ‘That’s not scary.’ (What’s) scary is to just get comfortable and live the same cycle every day.”

Before registering for an LLC, Colmenares said she was building and selling her bouquets out of her mother’s living room, eventually graduating to a home office in her own two-bedroom apartment and then to a storefront on University Avenue she now shares with three other small businesses.

“When you come into our shop, you’ll see three names on the door – Nails by Chinita, Lashes by K and then Flora Bouquets LLC, because we kind of share this space doing our small businesses,” she said. 

Colmenares said though they aren’t her co-workers, she appreciates having two other women who run small businesses to connect and network with.

“All three of us network and give each other ideas or clientele,” she said. “They play a really important part of my day, because when I want an opinion, I go and ask them, ‘Hey, how does this look?’”

That question, Colmenares said, is never met with negativity, as she puts her all into making her handmade designs a cut above other florists’.

“I just want people to know that I genuinely love what I do,” she said. “I do it out of my heart, and I put (in) every effort possible for everything to come out perfect and most importantly, (high) quality.”

Like a present

Unlike traditional bouquets, Colmenares said her designs often include decorations and special water-proof Korean wrapping paper.

“It’s almost like a gift because it’s wrapped up, and it comes with a bow, and you can put a little message (on it),” she said. “I really like to express the quality and how much detail I put into it and the wrapping paper – everything has its own little touch.”

Colmenares said most of the decorations you see in her designs are handmade using materials she sources online – giving her the creative freedom to fulfill her customer’s custom requests.

“I have a Silhouette Cameo, which is kind of like a Cricut Maker,” she said. “So I craft my decorations. I like giving my customers the freedom to really (ask for) what they want, while I’m also giving them the authenticity of my flower styles.”

Though smaller, un-decorated bouquets are always available in her shop’s cooler, Colmenares said they still “come with the wrapping paper, and a little decoration can be added, if requested.”

“I like to leave them bare so if people want to customize them, they can just tell me what they want to add at the store,” she said.

Those smaller bouquets, Colmenares said, are usually priced around $75, but the bigger, more complicated designs involving 20, 50, sometimes even 70 flowers can cost anywhere between $125-$450.

“To me, flowers are like a luxury – it’s not really a need to live,” she said. “So when people say comments like, ‘These are too expensive,’ I’m like, ‘You know, this is really like a luxury thing.’ But I’m always happy to accommodate people’s budgets, because I believe everyone should have flowers and experience the special feeling of receiving flowers or giving them.”

More than just a pretty plant

Colmenares said though sometimes flowers are thought of as simple, “flowers are a part of our lives more than what we think.”

“Birthdays, anniversaries, graduations, funerals, weddings – it’s part of every ceremony, even though we don’t think about it,” she said.

Being a part of people’s special days and events, Colmenares said, can sometimes apply added pressure.

But, as she’s practiced and perfected her craft, she said that “pressure has fallen off my shoulders now that I gained more skills, because I gained more confidence in what I do.”

That confidence has translated into recognition of Flora Bouquets as a rising star in the Green Bay business community – a fact Colmenares said was solidified after being selected to receive a grant from the Greater Green Bay Chamber.

“I was just really proud,” she said. “It was really a ‘wow moment’ – to know that my business stood out and that they believe in me.”

It’s not just the chamber that believes in her vision either, Colmenares said, as her family helps out in the shop when needed.

“I am very lucky and fortunate to have my mom, my sister and my boyfriend on the days where I’m really overwhelmed with work,” she said. “I can call them and be like, ‘Hey, I really need some help – could you just come here and clean these flowers? Or, run the register for me?’”

Colmenares said reflecting the values of her family and her culture in her business is extremely important to the growth of Flora Bouquets.

“In October, (I had) a sale on marigolds, which in Spanish are called ‘cempasúchil,’ which is a flower to represent Day of the Dead,” she said. “In Green Bay, I can think maybe back like three years ago, you would not find those flowers around here and if you did, they were kind of dying, very limited or expensive.”

Finding quality flowers was another challenge of starting Flora Bouquets, Colmenares said.

“When I did my research, it said (to) find yourself a wholesaler, because that’s where you’re going to get the best price and maybe quality,” she said. “So Costco was where I started, and then eventually I found a wholesaler here in Green Bay.”

That wholesaler, Colmenares said, sources flowers from across the world, but found that the best ones come from farms in Ecuador.

“I’ve had people tell me that (the flowers) lasted more than two weeks,” she said. “That’s a really good vase life for flowers, because when I used to work with grocery store flowers, they would wilt within a week.”

Legacy goals

Having grown up in the city most of her life, Colmenares said she hopes Flora Bouquets becomes “a staple of Green Bay, just like (many of the) other flower shops.”

“My goal with my business is to make it generational – really build something for my family to have forever,” she said. “I’m so grateful for them and all the opportunities and motivation and support that they give me – it almost feels wrong to not give (the business) my all.”

Giving it her “all” is not something Colmenares said she’s unfamiliar with – reflecting on a memory of the first business she started out of her mom’s living room as a kid.

“I lived in an eight-apartment complex, so I made these popsicles (and) I would sell them every day,” she said. “At night, I would restock and then sell them again – I think one summer, I made like $200.”

Colmenares said even from a young age, her family recognized her entrepreneurial spirit.

“When I was little, my aunt from Mexico (would send) little care packages,” she said. “She would send me these pens that came with bubbles and stamps – they were so cool – and I feel like I’ve just been born an entrepreneur, because I was like, ‘I could sell these.’”

That hustle and drive to succeed, Colmenares said, comes from her humble upbringing.

“I came from Mexico… and worked hard till the day I became the person that I wanted to be,” she said. “I am the person I currently want to be – being a really successful business owner was my dream.”

Now, as she celebrates roughly three years in business, Colmenares said the next step is building an official website for Flora Bouquets.

“People mostly order through direct messages, calls, Facebook Messenger – but I do want to make a website,” she said. “By the end of the year, I should have a website so people can just click and submit their payment, and I get an order.”

Colmenares said she hopes her story of perseverance and success will encourage other people of her generation to bring their own unique style to the city.

“I feel like we could bring new things into Green Bay,” she said. “And I feel like people my age are starting to do that.”

For more on Flora Bouquets on its social media platforms.