Sunday, November 23, 2008

A little history on this San Diego Flower Shop...

La Jolla Village Florist was established over 30 years ago way back in 1977. It is one of the few original shops left in the every changing Westfield Shoppingtown University Towne Centre shopping mall. My Aunt worked for the original owners from the very beginning, then with some nudging by her, my Grandparents bought the store 3 years later in 1980. Since the beginning, our shop has been one of the favorite local florists which lies on the border of San Diego and La Jolla.

UTC (University Towne Centre) has gone through some changes over the years. Originally designed in the spirit of a German Renaissance town, the mall has changed into a modern open air shopping mall. Our store has also reflected these changes, the first exterior design, which was originally located on the Sears wing, looked like an old western boutique. The interior walls were made up of an actual barn that was torn down specifically to be used for our shop. In the early 90's our shop went through an exterior face lift in which we created a more open feel with large glass windows and large open doors. In 2000 we moved to a different location within the mall near the food court / ice rink. Green tones and natural wood colors, we've created a more earthy, Zen feel.

I've worked at the family florist since I was a youngster. I started out cleaning buckets, cleaning flowers, mopping floors etc... and worked my way up to a managment position. While majoring in business at San Diego State University, I was learning a lot of business fundamentals that I felt I could apply to the flower shop. My graduating from SDSU coincided with the retiring of my grandparents. I gladly took over the whole operation and am still learning and growing with the business. Running a succesful florist doesn't come without it's challenges, which I hope to touch on down the road right here on this blog.