Shirley Snells Florist will be holding an open day to celebrate new owners Nick Pearce and Sam Coward.

Despite changing hands several times since its establishment, the well-known shop has retained the name of its original founder, Shirley Snell, who opened the business in 1969.

Nick and Sam were no strangers to the business before assuming ownership in December 2021.

Nick’s mother, Jill Jolliffe, began working alongside Shirley in the 1980s, and later became co-owner of the shop with her husband Phil in 2006, retaining the shop’s recognisable name.

Nick said: “I’ve always known my mum to work for Shirley Snells. So each time—holidays and stuff—I’ve always come in, finished with school and sort of helped out a little bit and then, obviously growing up, passing my driver’s test, they always had me out doing the Valentine’s Day deliveries, Mother’s Day deliveries; anytime we were on holiday I’d come in and do the deliveries. So I have grown up knowing Shirley Snells.”  

Nick and Sam said there was a lot to learn in the beginning but Phil and Jill have been excellent mentors. Nick said despite the shop’s business hours being from 8.30am to 5pm, it is not a nine-to-five job and a lot of work is required outside of that timeframe.

Nick said: “The social media aspect of it. The general running of the business. So, you’ve got the invoicing, marketing, managing the website, constant emails back and forth, meetings.”

Nick is a third-generation florist. His late grandfather, Stan Abbott, also worked in the industry at multiple florists, including Shirley Snells.

Nick and Sam didn’t know they would be taking over the business until the summer of 2021, after Phil and Jill were preparing for retirement and few people had expressed interest in purchasing Shirley Snells.

Nick said: “We were both at jobs where we weren’t entirely happy, and then sort of sat down and had a chat and basically discussed is this something that’s doable really, and then obviously the ball got rolling, and here we are today a year later and I think we’ve done very well.”

Shirley Snells’ open day will take place from 11am to 6pm on Wednesday, March 1. Nick said refreshments will be available.