Zelienople florist approaches busy season creatively following fire along Main Street
With just over a month until proms, wedding season and Mother’s Day — a busy time of the year for a florist — Misty Evans found herself without a physical location and coolers to store fresh flowers.
A fire along Zelienople’s Main Street on March 30 left the owner of Flowers by M.E. in a precarious situation, but she is still serving customers in a new way. The floral shop was one of the two business affected by a fire on the second floor of the building they occupy.
Until Evans can get the business back to its space, the florist is doing business out of her newly propped up home studio in New Sewickley Township, Beaver County.
“It was quite a chaotic process at the beginning,” Evans said. “We don’t have a space like we did in Zelienople.”
While firefighters contained the Main Street fire swiftly and no injuries were sustained, the businesses and the apartment of one resident were severely damaged.
Evans had to find new ways to serve customers during peak season; Sherri Davis of Stylin’ With Sherri had to temporarily relocate her salon; and Bill Vogel, the upstairs tenant who is a lifelong member of the Zelienople community, lost his belongings and home in the fire.
Joel Grobe, president of Zelienople Area Business Association (ZABA), explained how Stylin' with Sherri, is operating out of Phenix Salon Suites, a beauty salon in Cranberry.
Grobe said that ZABA is helping out both the businesses during their recovery period.
As for Vogel, a fundraiser to help him has raised $5,185 as of Friday, May 8, which is 95% of its targeted amount.
Following the fire, Evans said it took some time to figure out the next steps. She is unsure if much has started along Main Street beyond the early inspection and cleaning up process.
To keep serving customers, she repurchased supplies and setup in time for the jam-packed season. All the supplies needed to be replaced as the materials in her Main Street shop were destoyed in the fire.
Logistically, the extra travel to acquire inventory has been an additional challenge for Evans, who said that she had to take less-than-usual Mother’s Day orders due to the complications, to be realistic.
But throughout the process, the community has supported her, she said.
Flower pick up for Mother’s Day orders was set up at The Munching Moose, a different Main Street business, on Saturday.
“The community has been great,” Evans said. “It’s a great overwhelming feeling at how supportive people have been.”
