The florist’s at Jagiellońska street in Szczecin opened on 03 October. You can buy there a wide array of florist articles ranging from potted plants and cut flowers, bouquets and wreaths to pottery and other related items. “I make efforts to have a richer range of products than those available from other flower shops. I want to show my customers flowers and plants that are original in colour and are not on offer in other shops, such as Leucospermum, Celozia and Protea,” says Karolina Golik, the owner of „Kwiaciarnia u Kwiatkowskich” (the name is derived from the surname of her partner).

 

Karolina Golik decided to transform her professional career a year and a half ago. She used to work as a specialist in EU projects. “I have always loved flowers and have been adept at arranging floral decorations and centrepieces. So – I thought – since I like flowers so much, maybe turning my passion into a permanent job is worth a try. I asked the owner of the flower shop I was a regular customer of whether she would be willing to teach me florist techniques in exchange for my help. This is how I started my apprenticeship at the florist’s,” she recollects. In the meantime Karolina Golik completed a photo training course.  As she learned more about the trade and received praises from the customers, she became increasingly convinced that establishing her own flower shop was the right choice.

 

With the help of a loan furnished by the Polish Entrepreneurs Foundation (KLON foundation for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises) she finally decided to go ahead with her idea in September. She received PLN 30 thousand from the Foundation which she used for buying the necessary equipment and her advertising campaign.  She also used her own savings. She found the proper location after a four-month search. “If one wants to operate in the world of commerce, one needs to find a place that is visible and busy. However, the costs associated with renting a well-located shop may be fairly high,” she observes.

 

On her opening day she handed out flowers with her visiting cards, and she wants to do it again, because the promotion has proved helpful. She has also contacted Google Maps to include her shop and started cooperating with a wedding dress studio located nearby - its customers can order her services with a discount.

 

All in all, she puts a lot of effort into her shop and she really wants to get it going. She admits to have been working seven days a week, at least twelve hours a day:   “I get up at five o’clock in the morning and go to the flower fair to buy flowers or pots.  I buy some of the flowers, such as heather, directly from special plantations, because they are fresher there and the choice is wider.  During the opening hours I focus on the flowers, I fill orders, prepare bouquets and floral decorations.   It frequently happens that I order flowers from the flower fair at 08:30 in the evening.

 

The customer are still rather scarce.  “Every fifteenth window shopping passer-by decides to go inside. Many people just stand outside the shop and admire my display, so I need to make sure that everything I show in my windows is up to scratch,” she says. Every purchase is accompanied with a gift – a special mixture that extends the lives of cut flowers.

“A satisfied customer is my priority and my primary objective. Therefore, I must ensure top-quality flowers and a diverse array of products,” she concludes. Karolina Golik believes procurement to be the hardest part of her job.  “I need to select the freshest flowers at the wholesaler’s to be sure that they arrive safely at my shop. Hard as I try, I am forced to throw away some of them anyway, also because sometimes they do not sell when they are still fresh.”

 

She is going to launch her own website soon, and she is planning some other investments aimed to ensure better conditions for her flowers: the purchase of an air dehumidifier and improvement of the ventilation system.    She has also undertaken steps to obtain a permit for putting up a light box with the name of her shop above the entrance, but the associated procedure turns out to be rather lengthy.

 

“I would never think that so many institutions must give their approvals, and each of them should be allowed 30 days for response,” she adds.

 

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