Farm shop suits local florist

Robbery spurred move

Friday, May 9, 2008

Click here to enlarge this photo Staff photo by GARY SMITH Tina Cooksey, owner of Gateway Florist, puts the finishing touches on a flower arrangement at her shop in her garage on her family’s farm on Fair Fountain Farm Road in La Plata. E-Mail This Article | Print This Story

Cooksey, who operated Gateway Florist for 17 years at the Gateway Plaza shopping center at the corner of Leonardtown Road and St. Charles Parkway, decided to move her small shop after being robbed at gunpoint about two years ago.

The relocation of the shop to her and her husband’s 130-acre family farm on Fair Fountain Farm Road in La Plata was the best thing that could have happened to the business, Cooksey said.

‘‘I just decided that I needed to move to a different place,” she said.

‘‘The move was really easy. I took everything down and had my shop up and running at the farm without even having to close the business any extra days.”

Right now, the shop is set up in a garage on the property, but some day soon Cooksey said she would like to construct a building to house the business.

Full service on the farm: The florist shop, which offers customers all of the usual services for weddings, funerals, anniversaries and parties, is operated mostly by Cooksey, but she said she does receive a helping hand from her husband, Kent, and mom, Carol Ratcliffe.

Cooksey has one part-time driver and hires more delivery people as situations warrant. She also does deliveries during especially busy times of the year, such as Mother’s Day and Valentine’s Day.

Deliveries are hitting the business hard since the sharp rise in gasoline prices, Cooksey said, adding that it costs between $70 and $75 to fill up her delivery van.

A lot of Cooksey’s business is generated from the shop’s two Web sites, she said.

‘‘We get quite a bit of business from the Web sites,” she said. ‘‘It increases all of the time.”

Cooksey said it is difficult to start up a business, but having a passion for what you do makes the task a little easier.

‘‘This is just something that I fell into and I sort of grew into it,” she said.

‘‘Starting up the business was a long road in the beginning. There was just a lot of running around that had to be done so that I could get people to know my name.”

Hard work, long hours: Running a florist shop is hard work, Cooksey said, adding that many times owning your own business does not necessarily mean you will work regular hours.

‘‘My advice to anyone who wants to start their own business is to plan to work a whole lot at first,” she said. ‘‘Working 9 to 5 doesn’t always work out.”

Cooksey’s day starts with making arrangements for orders that have to go out that day and ordering flowers from her suppliers. It also entails some dirty work such as cleaning buckets and the walk-in cooler she has in the shop to keep her flowers fresh.

Having the shop on the farm also allows her to spend more time with her two sons, Cooksey said.

Cooksey has future projects that are already on the drawing board, including growing her own produce to sell and wildflowers for floral arrangements.

‘‘I just planted two fields of wildflowers,” she said, adding that next year she wants to grow and sell planters and hanging flower baskets at the shop. ‘‘Before I decided to move from Waldorf I wanted to get into that.”

Although running a florist shop takes a lot of hard work, Cooksey said it is all worth it.

‘‘I really work hard to make the money that I make; it’s not a glamorous job, but I love it,” she said.

‘‘I like working for myself.”

Nancy Bromley McConaty

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