When Sharon Mulkey and her family noticed local flower shops were slowly being shuttered one by one, she decided to do something about it.
“My husband, Craig, owns a funeral home here in town, and throughout the years there were always good flower shops and they were able to take care of us,” she said. “However, when grocery stores started selling flowers that really impacted the flower shops to the point that there were no flower shops around, and the ones that were around just weren’t very good.”
In November 2010 Mulkey purchased a flower shop in Highland Village so her husband would have somewhere local to get flowers from.
“This shop was actually the conglomeration of different shops that sold over the years,” she said. “It was the Lewisville Flower Shop, which was the oldest flower shop in the area—and that’s where the majority of our business came from.”
Mulkey said the Lewisville Flower Shop was purchased by someone who moved the shop to Highland Village.
“The people who brought it changed the name and brought it to Highland Village and called it YaYa’s,” she said. “And nobody really knew it was a flower shop. They kept it for 18 months; it was more like a hobby for them.”
Prior to buying the flower shop, Mulkey worked as a court reporter.
“I knew nothing about flowers,” she said. “Luckily, my husband knew all of the best florists in town through the funeral home business, so we recruited the best of the best when we opened this flower shop.”
Mulkey said although there are classes and training that people can go through to learn how to arrange flowers and hand-cut them, learning from an experienced florist in a shop is the best way to go.
“I very quickly learned all about flowers through them,” she said. “They all had 30-plus years of experience. They knew their stuff. They even taught my daughter Melanie.”
Mulkey said having experienced florists is important when opening up a flower shop.
“It was really hard getting started, but we’ve made it,” she said. “I would make sure you have good employees to start with—it that was my sole saving grace. I think a lot of people think of [arranging flowers] as just a hobby, and it’s not. It’s a lot of work that goes into having a flower shop.”
Mulkey’s carries an assortment of flowers, and if the shop does not have a certain flower, Sharon said she can get most flowers within a day.
“We buy from a local wholesaler in Dallas, and they run three runs a day up here,” she said. “As long as it is in season it shouldn’t be a problem.”
Besides selling flowers, Mulkey’s also offers Trapp candles, religious items, stuffed animals and other gifts.
“We carry a lot of stuff that people like to add to funeral stuff or send in lieu of flowers for a funeral,” she said.
Besides looking at beautiful flowers every day she said she really enjoys making people happy with flowers.
Mulkey’s Flowers & Gifts
2300 Highland Village Road, Ste. 420, Highland Village
972-436-4502
www.mulkeysflowers.com
HOURS:
Mon.-Fri. 9 a.m.-5 p.m.,
Sat. 9 a.m.-1 p.m., closed Sun.
