Chamber Welcomes New Owner of Village Florist

By Joel Frady

After owning and operating the Village Florist in Jefferson for the past 23 years, Benny and Frances Roten

were ready to retire. They purchased the shop, which has been open for more than 50 years, despite the fact Frances "really wasn't interested.

"My husband was the one who loved the flowers, and he was the one who bought the shop," she said. She noted that she "got thrown into the shop not knowing anything about it. I was lucky that I could look at a picture and duplicate the picture. That's how I really got most of my training."

For the past two decades, the Rotens have enjoyed bringing flowers to their customers.

"I love the people," said Frances Roten. "The people are just super. All of our customers, I'll miss tremendously. The people were the big joy, working with them and seeing some of them at their worst, and at their best."

Over the years, the Rotens began purchasing galdiolus From Julie Wyatt, a native of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., who moved to Ashe County 19 years ago. A friendship blossomed, and the Rotens discovered something interesting about Wyatt.

"She got interested in having a shop of her own," Frances said. "She came in and worked with us for about three months and she decided to buy the shop, but we had a friendship before she actually bought the shop."
Roten noted that Wyatt "does beautiful work, so I feel comfortable that she will serve the customers that we had very well."

For Wyatt, it was an opportunity she had wanted for years.

"I've grown flowers for all of my life," said Wyatt. "Even as a little girl, I grew periwinkles." Once Wyatt got married, she took her interest to the next level.

"I started dragging in rocks, building flower beds and planting flowers," she said. "I found out that florists would buy those flowers, so it became my hobby: riding around on my four-wheeler and my John Deere Gator with my big German Shepherd, farming flowers."

In 2008, she said she received a call from the Rotens. They met about taking over the business, and Wyatt agreed to purchase the shop. Now the owner, she said that the "most exciting part is the people," but she also hopes she can grow the business.

"I hope that this business will allow me to afford to grow more," she said, "plow up some more land and hire a little bit of help. Let somebody else worry about the weeds and the bugs." While several of the store's flowers are already grown locally, others are flown in from South America.

But Wyatt also knows that the biggest challenge facing her is simply "keeping up the standard of quality that the Rotens had, making sure that you get it right and that your customer is not just okay with it, but 100 percent satisfied."

The transition was finalized on Friday, March 6, when the Ashe County Chamber of Commerce held a ribbon cutting at the shop.

"We're saying goodbye to a couple good friends, Benny and Francis Roten," said Cabot Hamilton, executive director of the Chamber. "We're going to miss you, but we welcome Julie."

Village Florist is located at 638 East Main Street in Jefferson. To find out more, contact the store at (336) 246-8825 or click to www.flowersatvillageflorist.com.