Owner: Pepperberry Florist & Gift Shop Expanding in Melrose

With the holiday season upon us and Pepperberry Florist & Gift Shop expanding into the former B Yoga Center space at 537 Main Street, Melrose Patch recently spoke with owner John DeCola to find out where the business has come since first opening more than 17 years ago in Wakefield.

Melrose Patch: How did you get started in the flower and gift shop business?

JD: “It was kind of in the family. My sisters were florists and I was the youngest and I kind of helped them out when I was a kid. They started young when they were in their 20s, and that was what gave me the idea. I’ve been doing it for over 30 years.”

MP: Where did you launch your first shop?

JD: “I started out with my shop in the Greenwood area of Wakefield in 1996 and was there for about three years. It was a very small space, and a lot of my clientele came from Melrose…and a space had opened up and I’ve moved a few times to meet my needs. Melrose is the best thing that I could have done. The business has been steadily growing ever since.”

MP: Why did you decide to open a shop in Melrose?

JD: “I grew up in Saugus and always came to Melrose center and pictured one day having my own business there and eventually I did. I was really welcomed with open arms when I moved here and everyone was so nice and happy I came to Melrose. I still have pretty much all of my original clientele from the beginning and it’s worked out really great.”

MP: What locations have you had in Melrose?

JD: “The first shop was at 436 Main St. at the Greenwood building for five years. Then I desperately needed more space but nothing was opening up at the time so I moved around the corner to 17 Upham St., but that space was too big and not really the atmosphere I was looking for and a little too off the beaten path and away from Main Street. I did more phone business than anything there. It was OK but didn’t have everything I needed so once this spot (at 539 Main St.) opened up it was perfect. It had the charm with the tin ceilings and had everything I was looking for.”

MP: How much retail space do you have at your current Melrose shop compared to your first one in Wakefield?

JD: “The Wakefield store was around 700 square feet, but with the expansion of our current location in Melrose we’ll have a little more than 3,100 square feet.”

MP: Are you a member of the Melrose Chamber of Commerce?

JD: “I am. The chamber here is excellent. They do a lot of programs like the buy local (campaign), the gift certificates, Home for the Holidays and they do so much for us. They have monthly meetings but it’s hard for me to attend because I am up early at the flower market and just can’t make it to them. Sometimes I wish I could just split myself in half so I can do everything, but I do try and participate in anything else that I can like a fundraiser or what have you.”

MP: How has business been this past year?

JD: “The past two years have been our busiest yet in spite of the economy. We’ve been pretty fortunate. Since I’ve moved to this location, it’s just grown so much more.”

MP: How has business been since setting up shop at your current location on Main Street in Melrose?

JD: “Since we moved back onto Main Street, because we moved around the corner for a while but it just wasn’t the right setting for the shop, we’ve been here for five years now and the gift line gifts have really taken off. The flowers are still the staple, but we’re getting more and more gift item requests from our clientele so we decided to expand when the spot next door became available. We’re going to keep this side the flower shop and garden-style things and on the other side we’ll have more mainstream gifts, unique cards, gift wraps and nice gift lines like soaps, lotions and a little bit of everything for everyone.”

MP: What’s it been like preparing for the holidays while also getting ready to open your new gift shop space?

JD: “This happened kind of quickly the space becoming available. Ideally, it wasn’t the perfect time. It would have been nice to have an extra month or two, but at least we’ll be able to open (the gift shop) Dec. 1 for Christmas. It all starts after Halloween. People start putting out holiday arrangements and sending out gift baskets and now we’ll have even more of a selection to add to that. We’re going to have candle baskets and all sorts of gifts customers can send out to people.”

MP: Where do you typically buy your gift materials and products?

JD: “I’ve been concentrating on buying more gifts made in the U.S.A. and from places like Massachusetts, Maine and locally. It’s kind of hard in the flower business because many things are imported and unfortunately a lot of the glassware is imported from overseas so that’s tough, but a lot of the other stuff we’ve tried to focus on buying in the U.S.”

MP: What tend to be popular sellers during the holiday season?

JD: “We sell a lot of table arrangements and centerpieces with or without candles. We do a lot of really organic pieces with a lot of natural-looking aspects to it, lots of different specialty foliage and things like that. We’ll keep it a little upscale and unique. For Christmas we add in the boxwood trees we decorate and we sell a lot of those actually. We have wreaths, boxwood wreaths and mixed evergreens and we custom design them to the colors people want. Centerpieces people either buy for themselves or for their family. We also do a lot of corporate work and a lot of companies will call us and send centerpieces out to people that they deal with.”

MP: What type of hurdles have you had to overcome to run your business over the years?

JD: “The biggest hurdle was a few years back. I was kind of in a space in between where I was growing to the point where it was too hard for me to do on my own and yet it was hard to have a full staff on at the same time. It was kind of an in between stage and that was the most difficult thing, trying to balance the two. If you hire someone, you want to give (him or her) enough hours. I feel like we just got past that point a couple years ago and now I can have a full staff and now we can finally supply that to them as well, so it’s a smoother ride now.”

MP: Who do you have on staff?

JD: “We have a full-time driver now, three full-time designers including myself and then we have a couple part-timers that come in for the holidays.”

MP: With your business expanding, what are your short and long-term goals?

JD: “My main priority will continue to be to put out the best product I possibly can to keep my customers happy. Now I have my daughter who’s going to be taking over the gift section and she’ll be managing that. She’s helping me with the buying of things for her generation and making it kind of a one-stop shopping experience. People have asked for a long time for the specialty wrap and cards and now we can offer that to them as well.”

For more information, call 781-979-0444, email pepperberryflorist@gmail.com or visit the Pepperberry Florist & Gift Shop website.