Melinda Jasott and Mary Spoor with the issue of Canadian Florist featuring their shop on the cover.

(CHARLOTTE HELSTON / iNFOnews.ca)

VERNON -  Much has changed in the 36 years since Mary and Jake Spoor opened the Vernon Flower Shop, but one thing that has remained constant is their passion for the business.

It’s something the couple passed onto their daughter, Melinda Jasott, who has been working at the shop for the past seven years.

“Even if we’re covered in pine pitch from head to toe with sore fingers... making corsages at grad time, we love it,” Jasott says. “I wake up in the morning and think, ‘I get to go to work.’ I get a day off and I’m still here.”

The shop was recently featured on the cover of Canadian Florist magazine. Spoor has been reading the magazine for years, but never thought she’d find her shop in its pages, much less on the front cover.

The story came on the heels of a recent one-block move from the shop’s original location to a home on 30th Street, still in view of the old storefront. Five franchises and a one-time fleet of over 100 employees later, the family is focusing on the single shop with no plans of moving or expanding. The Spoors have no plans of retiring, either.

“If I stayed home I’d just do housework and I don’t like housework,” Mary Spoor, 66, says. “It’s a way of life, to go cold turkey, I couldn’t do it.”

Jasott says it would be hard working without her mom and her dad, who manages the books. They have different strengths and make a great team, she says.

Over the years, the company has had to adapt to stay fresh and current. They’re constantly checking out design shows, poring over industry magazines and networking with others businesses.

“There’s always something new, cutting edge,” Spoor says. “If you stay the way you are, you’re not going to evolve.... We pride ourselves on being up to date and contemporary.”

It can be a challenging line of work with competition stemming from grocery stores and large chains, but the family business offers a creative flair and local attitude that sets them apart.

“We put in the hard work, the love, the extra stuff that needs to go in there. We can add that extra touch,” Jasott says.

To contact the reporter for this story, email Charlotte Helston at chelston@infotelnews.ca, call (250)309-5230 or tweet @charhelston.

News from © iNFOnews, 2013