SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — A busy Mother's Day weekend is on the way for flower shops across the country, including here in San Diego.
"We're getting a lot of online orders, phone calls, a lot of regulars stopping by," said Hilary Bateman, the owner of Little House of Flowers at 6090 Friars Rd in Mission Valley.
A lot has changed for Bateman in the last year. In May of 2020, she was prepping to finally allow for curbside pickups at her shop in time for Mother's Day, a huge win at the time after dealing with closures, canceled weddings, and only offering delivery due to pandemic restrictions.
Now, with California reopening more business sectors and looking at the potential of fully reopening in June, events are back on the schedule, keeping the shop busy.
"We got quite a few weddings that we're doing this summer," said Bateman. "We went from no events, no weddings, we had to shift kind of into delivery only, social distancing, pickup. Now what we're seeing is we're getting a lot of calls from brides that had to reschedule their events.
As the business is bouncing back, it's also on the way to an expansion.
"We have kind of outgrown our space after three years of being there, and we are going to take the jump into having an actual storefront," Bateman explained.
Later this month, potentially on May 19, a second Little House of Flowers will open, this time at 1017 Rosecrans St. in Point Loma.
While Bateman is excited, like many business owners, hiring new employees at this time has been a challenge she's experiencing.
"We're actively looking for a floral design assistant, and we're looking for some help. It's difficult to find. I know a lot of people still aren't working, or just kind of getting ready to jump back into the workforce, so as a small business, it just makes it an extra struggle because you're wearing many hats," she said.
She credits her team for getting the shop through the tough times and hopes soon she'll be able to add on a few more people.
"Every small business knows to be successful, you have to have a good team with you," she said. "Having people with you that support you and encourage you to keep going, that has helped tremendously to keep us going."
