OMAHA, Neb. (KMTV) — Just because you're social distancing, doesn't mean you can't be spreading love or kindness. To help do that, Flowerama in West Omaha is still open
"We have been open - we're starting our 17th year, so we're excited about that," said owner Brenda Veasman. "We've been here a long time. We're a full service florist, so everything from weddings, funerals, we do everyday occasions, anniversaries, we have balloons, flowers, all kinds of gifts."
Since COVID-19, Flowerama near 144th St. and Pacific St. has stayed busy.
"We have been extremely busy," Veasman said. "I think people are using flowers to reach out to people, to tell them we're thinking about you, we love you. This is how they can keep in touch."
Veasman said they have a lot of people who come in to buy flowers to leave on people's doors. She said there's nothing quite like flowers to say "I love you" or "I miss you grandma."
"We had a young lady, who lives out of town, who sent some flowers to her grandma today, and the grandma was so excited. Because she's a young lady - she's 25 - she was excited that she actually took the time and was thoughtful enough to send her flowers on her birthday, and so that was sweet. The grandma called us and thanked us, and she was really excited to get the flowers."
Although they've stayed busy, the pandemic still has impacted their business.
Now, there are fewer employees working.
"They voluntarily cut themselves, really," Veasman said. "We have a lot of high school kids who come and work for us, so parents wanted them to stay home, and we have some people who have some health issues who stayed home, but we have about a third of our staff working."
They are also following CDC guidelines within staff and customers.
"We are social distancing - the designers, we are more than six feet apart all day," Veasman said. "We will each help a customer at once, and we also have the floor marked so they have to stay back six feet from the counter and each other."
"We sanitize all handles after everybody leaves," she said. "We have one pen, we sanitize it after every customer. So we keep everything clean."
They are currently offering curbside service and taking extra precautions when making deliveries.
"We're doing no contact delivery, so we're calling to make sure people are home, they know we're coming," Veasman said, "We ring the doorbell and leave it on the front step for them. It's worked out really well."
And as Mother's Day approaches, they plan on getting busier.
"It was really hard to decide what to do for that holiday, because we don't know who is going to be open, what people are going to be doing. I honestly don't know even if nursing homes will be open for people to come in, so I anticipate we're going to have a great week," Veasman said.
Which is a good thing, because after all this, customers still want them open.
Flowerama
LOCATION: 14265 PACIFIC STREET OMAHA, NE 68154
HOURS: Monday -Friday: 8:30 AM - 5 PM Saturday 8:30 AM- 2PM, Sunday 12 PM- 4PM
CONTACT: (402) 333-3430
