One of the newest businesses in downtown Cleveland
Mother and daughter team, Wendy and Melissa Vrooman, opened Sunset Florist in downtown Cleveland this past summer, but the official grand opening and ribbon cutting ceremony was held on October 9th.
“Last year a job opportunity for my husband, George, brought us to the Delta,” said Wendy. “Our cousin, who lives in Cleveland, is friends with Desira Coleman Warrington of Cleveland Fresh and introduced us. They thought we’d do well taking over her business and connected us.”
Although they did want to take over Cleveland Fresh, Melissa said they were delayed in finding a house and missed out on the opportunity.
“We were still interested in opening a new florist shop in town and were determined to start our own business,” said Melissa.
According to Wendy, they moved to Cleveland from Missouri, but have also lived in Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Georgia.
“I have a Bachelors of Fine Arts in Sequential Art, which, at its simplest, is storytelling,” said Melissa.
Since earning her degree, Melissa said she has been a film fest coordinator, a pet sitter, a baker, and a chicken egg farmer.
“So much of what I learned in school and through my other work lends itself to flower arranging,” said Melissa. “Form, color, the message, and building relationships with every customer are things that I’ve had quite a bit of practice with already. It’s just a new medium.”
Wendy shared that she has a degree in Management Information Systems, and has worked in Information Technology at an art museum, banks, and in retail.
“Echo, our Shop Dog and #1 employee, has no previous experience in the florist industry, but has been a fast learner,” said Melissa. “He happily greets and herds each customer throughout the store.”
Melissa said if anyone would like to experience the store without Echo, they are welcome to let the staff know when they walk in or you can give them a call before you drop by. Echo has “a long list of tasks” he can be handling in the back if someone would like to shop without his help.
“Our intent is to bring a fresh variety of gifts, plants, and flowers to the Cleveland community and surrounding areas,” said Melissa. “We strive to bring just a little bit of joy to anyone who comes into our store.”
According to Melissa, the shop has fresh cut flowers for everyday and special occasions. They currently provide flowers for the Bologna Performing Arts Center headliner events and plants for their McCarty vases. They also provided the flowers for Delta State’s homecoming this past weekend.
“Every order is personal and carefully assembled,” said Wendy. “Before delivery or pickup we send a picture to our customer for their approval, and we are happy to make changes to make the customer happy.”
Melissa said they sell fresh cut flowers that can be made into arrangements same day, and can prepare arrangements for funerals, weddings, and other events.
“We also offer a variety of plants for every skill level and care tendency, cards, snacks, bath products, fragrances, pet treats, sorority accessories, stickers, paintings, prints, S.T.E.M. kits, local and regional souvenirs, jewelry, crafts, 3D printed vases and pots (by local creator Click Print), and handmade pottery (by local DSU students Angel Poole and Katie Wadkins),” said Melissa.
Melissa said their main focus is to stock handmade, MS made, and women-owned goods.
“We are always expanding the products we carry,” said Wendy. “We have a highlights reel on IG with most of the products/brands mentioned.”
According to Wendy, they have been sourcing and collecting unique vases since they started this endeavor.
“We mostly find vases at thrift stores, estate sales, and antique malls, but have had a few customers drop their unwanted vases off (and we welcome anyone to do the same!),” said Wendy. “We have a set of shelves outside our flower cooler for customers to choose from, but also hundreds more waiting just around the corner in our storage room.”
Melissa said they also have a category called “Rescue Plants”. They take in donated plants or pick up plants from the sale section at big box stores that are not doing well and nurse them back to health to sell in the store. Then, a portion of the proceeds are donated to the local animal shelter.
“If someone has a plant that is struggling, we will do our best to help rescue it,” said Melissa. “If they have a plant that they just don’t have room for or can’t take care of for whatever reason, we will take them. We’ve got several plants in the workroom that are both rehab plants and rescue plants.”
Wendy shared that since Echo is a rescue, they have a very soft spot in their hearts for pet rescues and fosters. They feel strongly about paying that forward in their business.
The shop is open 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., Wednesday through Sunday, but they are often in the shop Monday and Tuesday as well.
“We are evening people,” said Melissa. “Our hours allow more people who work full time or have busy schedules to get to us, and we are open on weekends as well.”
According to Melissa, they work exclusively with fresh cut flowers at the moment, but they plan to expand to dried flowers in the future.
“While artificial flowers have their uses, we only want to stock silks that are excellent quality, and the demand for silks is not high enough for us to keep them in our store yet,” said Melissa.
Moving forward, Melissa said they are hoping to take on more large projects this upcoming year. If you are looking for event flowers in 2025, they are currently taking bookings.
“We are also eager to keep expanding our stock of locally and regionally made products,” said Wendy. “If you are an artist, creator, or producer and are interested in having your work in our store we would love to talk to you!”
Additionally, Wendy said they are working on starting a few classes/group activities, such as; flower arranging classes, succulent garden parties, and printmaking classes (with flowers), so keep a lookout on social media for those in the future.
Melissa hopes the community stops by the shop to see the “delightful arrangements”, “neat and unusual gifts”, and “fantastic selection of plants”.
“Being a florist puts us in a unique spot in the community, we get the full range of life events coming to our store,” said Melissa.
According to Wendy, customers can order flowers in person, via phone, email, by their online order form, or through socials. They also offer same day delivery if needed.
“So far it has been a pretty even split between phone orders and in-person orders,” said Wendy. “We deliver anywhere in Cleveland for $7, and have delivered as far as Greenville, Rosedale, and Tutwiler.”
Melissa said that each order is based on the customer and the vision they have for the arrangement.
“We strive to make their vision come to life,” said Melissa. “A lot of times our customers have trusted us to create the design, and those have been creatively and socially fulfilling.”
The process starts before flowers are sent to the store. According to Melissa, they place orders with their three wholesalers and process the flowers before putting them into their fridge, which has a large display window for easy viewing. Wendy added that almost any flower a customer could want can be gotten with enough notice.
“Sometimes an order will start off with a color scheme, is occasion specific, size specific, or based on budget,” said Melissa. “From there we gather the “ingredients” (flower arrangements are referred to as recipes) and get to cutting everything to the correct height.”
Melissa said she likes to cut and do a test arrangement to make sure the proportions are pleasing before taking everything out and redoing it. She said this helps get the estimation work out of the way, so she can focus on the finishing touches like notes and ribbon before the arrangement is ready to be picked up or delivered.
“We also sell our flowers by the stem,” said Wendy. “We’ve had customers buy flowers to put around cakes, add to home grown flowers for parties, taken to friends and family in various medical centers, and used to decorate their homes as dried flowers.”
Though they have a website, Melissa said most orders are placed over the phone or via email. They are hoping to update the website as the business progresses.
“Our store number is 662-545-4155,” said Melissa. “Customers can email us at contact@sunsetfloristms.com, or reach out to us via Instagram or Facebook @sunsetfloristms. Our website (www.susnetfloristms.com) is up and running, but it is not the most direct way to reach us. Short of sending a carrier pigeon to us, we’ve got a lot of ways people can get ahold of us.”