Meagan Saunders has worked for years in retail and this past April, she took the opportunity to work for herself when she bought Weber’s Florist and Gifts in Ironton.
“I’ve worked in retail for 15 years so I am really good with working with the public and customer service. I learned step by step on how to grow,” she said. “So when I got this place, I was excited because I get more time with my family.”
She said that while it has been an experience learning the floral business, she had been an assistant manager for 12 years so she knows about stock and running a business.
“So when I jumped into this, I knew exactly what to do, how to grow the business on Facebook and how to do marketing,” Saunders said. She added that she has been helped out a lot by former owner Bonnie Weber who works for her now.
“She has been my rock this whole time,” Saunders said. “She will come into the shop and work three to four hours a day and she’ll make five or six different things and I am learning her business, how she used to run it and it is just great. Everybody loves Bonnie. Everybody in Ironton know Bonnie. She is amazing and has helped me tremendously.”
Also working there is Heather Jenkins.
“She has done everything, she is my right hand,” Saunders said. “I couldn’t ask for two better workers.”
Before the store reopened, Saunders said she watched a lot of videos to learn the ropes.
“And then when Bonnie came here, she showed me everything different,” Saunders said. “And that is what makes Weber’s Weber’s, it is different.”
She points out specialties like making casket displays that hang down onto the casket, a style that not many shops in the area do.
“It’s something that makes us great,” Saunders said.
Weber’s Florist and Gifts was started in 1902 and Saunders said she does feel the history of the place sometimes.
“When we opened this place after it had been closed for a year, you wouldn’t believe the number of people that came in because they were curious,” Saunders said. “A lot of people have grown up with this place.”
And a lot of people she knows have worked at the shop including a friend’s mom who worked at there for decades and the grandmother of her husband, Seth, worked at the store for many, many years.
“Weber’s Florist and Gifts has been in town forever and for me to have the opportunity to open it and to welcome the older generation back into the store has been life changing.”
Saunders said her favorite part of the business is the customers come in and see that many of the things they like about the store is still there.
“It’s amazing to see their faces light up, it gives me goosebumps,” Saunders said.
Weber’s Florist and Gifts is located at 1501 S. Sixth St. in Ironton.
There Facebook page is www.facebook.com/Webersflowers/