B4 SPOTLIGHT shop leads people, in some way, to believe I have been around for a while, but I often have customers walking into the shop disbelieving that I am Emma.”
just one large piece just as you enter the premises. We can make the whole thing fairly painless and can be in and out in just ten seconds, completely replacing arrangements, quickly and efficiently.”
Despite her age, Emma certainly has a sound set of business principles and knows what she wants, as she explains, “I always knew that I wanted a ‘different’ flower shop. As I have gained more
Flower colours can also be representative of a company’s branding and logo, adding to the impact, especially at an event. “It certainly adds to the overall effect if you walk into a marquee or
day’s stock in. Everything comes to Emma in refrigerated vans, but if a flower isn’t ‘fit for purpose’ it is thrown. Even, much to my amazement, flowers ordered to go to as far afield as Scotland originate from Emma, “It’s just as easy to get a delivery on a twenty four hour service, as it is to get one of the national florists to arrange it. This way, I can guarantee the quality and that the customer is getting my flowers. I can’t risk allowing a small shop
experience about what works, I have developed more of a rustic element, but I am always experimenting with the shop layout. I listen to the customers a lot and I think they appreciate that I canvass their opinion.”
exhibition room, which are often quite soulless places, if not decorated properly, and you can distract people from the uninspiring décor with stunning flower arrangements.”
somewhere potentially upsetting my hard earned reputation – it’s just not worth it and our way of working in terms of deliveries suits us down to the ground.”
Supporting Emma are her staff, Louise Fleming,
The service Emma provides is not excessive in terms of cost, with weekly flowers from as little as
With Christmas fast approaching, Emma reveals that the shop has become something of an
Hazel Ball and Tahima Rahman. “We work very much as a team, especially when we have a wedding to do. It’s an incredible team effort and we all get a real buzz when there’s a big exciting job to prepare for.”
£30, including delivery. Emma frequently visits prospective clients to advise what she can provide, tailored to their budgets, so why not give serious consideration to sprucing up the company reception or boardroom?
In addition to the mainstream day to day public facing shop, Emma also provides an excellent event service including weddings, business lunches and larger corporate events. “We have provided flowers for lunches, dinner events and launches, awards ceremonies, and also a growing amount of work in private homes. We also provide weekly flowers for offices, boardrooms, everything and anything. Flowers can really make a huge difference, even to a reception area. It shows the business cares about its image and can make the business look so much more professional, quite inexpensively.”
With extensive experience in a number of local stately homes and private houses including Blenheim Palace, Emma has quickly established a reputation as a smart operator who delivers what the customer wants, and more. This has ensured an abundance of work by word of mouth, which Emma is particularly proud of, “I love the fact that we get business through word of mouth, especially through weddings. It is an amazing endorsement of what we do when you are recommended by Brides you have worked for.”
attraction as it is transformed to reflect the season. “I love Christmas. There is such a great atmosphere in the street and I decorate the shop like something out of Narnia – it is my massive indulgence for the year. We did a great tree last year and we had so many customers coming in asking for exactly the same tree, decorated just as we had it in the shop. It didn’t stop there. We also had customers coming in who had seen trees we had decorated at their friend’s house asking for exactly the same tree! We did eight of the same style in North Oxford alone last year!”
Emma admits that with recent cost cutting exercises, beautiful flowers in the reception or boardroom were, on the whole regarded as non essential items. “Some companies have cut out the cost completely. Others have narrowed it down to www.b4-business.com
One thing Emma is a stickler for is the quality of her flowers, and prides herself on the almost non existent level of complaints she has had about flowers leaving her shop. Fortunately, gone are the days when florists had to be up almost before they had shut up shop the night before to get the next
Emma Walker is certainly passionate about flowers and, seemingly, Christmas Trees. But if you are serious about sprucing up your office reception or making sure you get the Christmas Tree to beat the Jones’, don’t leave it too long to get in touch, as I think this young lady is going to have a busy year.
www.emmawalkerflowers.co.uk 75
Photography: Alissa J Robinson
“EMMA HAS QUICKLY ESTABLISHED A REPUTATION AS A SMART OPERATOR.”