Community Check-In: How a Florist Blossomed

Louisa Amabile Testa

Intro

Right off the bat, I wanted to say thank you for the amazing response to my last article. I love telling my dad’s stories, and Red Star Paint is one of my favorites. 

I’m hoping that with these upcoming local articles, I’ll be able to share some really important stories with you all. I’m excited to keep this section going and to get into my next Community Check-In!

Introducing Louisa

I’m checking in with florist and business owner Louisa Amabile Testa. Louisa is the owner of Louisa Amabile Testa LLC Floral and Visual Designer, located on Grove Street in Verona since 2021. 

My Aunt Louisa’s story goes back over 20 years, beginning in Montclair. Her flower experience goes beyond her current business and starts in Bloomfield at what used to be Roxy Florist. 

Louisa left college before graduating, searching for a career path that would let her use her artistic talents. When she found Roxy Florist and asked for a job, thinking flowers could be something she could be good at, the owner told her to take a certification class and then ask again. 

My aunt said he probably didn’t expect her to take him seriously but went anyway to a florist in Brick to get her certification. A couple of months later, she had a job at Roxy’s. 

After learning the business there, Louisa opened her first flower store on Grove Ave in Montclair at 22 years old. She was there for six years before closing the shop and moving to Hanover Floral. 

Louisa’s current business came years later when she was a mom of four and had a hunger to start something new. 

In 2001, Louisa’s triplets were born, and then, two years later, her youngest son came into the picture. 

“I went to garage sales and bought 25-cent vases, and I cleaned them all,” she explained, “and then I made 30 vase arrangements and drove around with the triplets and John in the car to wherever I was driving them, with a card that I had printed that said if you would like something like this every week, it would be $25 a week. No delivery and no tax.” 

Louisa was used to being a businesswoman since her first storefront on Grove, but she didn’t have four kids then. 

“That's what started my momentum,” she said. “I was hungry to keep things rolling. I built this business from nothing. I was just a mom of four kids.”

The Flowers

Louisa’s business does all kinds of orders from bouquets on your anniversary to weddings. 

“We do weekly orders for restaurants, and doctor's offices get flowers every week. We do country clubs, and then we do showers and big events.”

We did the interview the Friday before Valentine’s Day in her workspace, so I got to watch my aunt’s employees putting together vase after vase of red and white flowers. 

“What you see here,” she said gesturing to the smaller flower orders littering the store, “it’s what pays the bills. These are the bread and butter, meaning, the small things.”

Customers might forget how many different types of orders florists do. Funerals are a big part of Louisa’s business, but so are the weekly flowers at doctor’s offices or the bouquets sitting on your kitchen counter.

“I'll never say no,” she said to me as she finished making another ribbon flower.

Louisa’s workshop in Verona is small and lively. I sat on a stool across from my aunt while her employees fluttered around us.

One shelf held racks of all different-sized vases. I asked if people ever return their vases, and someone explained that they upcycle most of their vases. 

“We built the business on recycled glass,” she said. Louisa always ask her clients to donate their vases back to the shop if they don’t want to keep them. A simple but extremely sustainable way to fund a business. 

A Very Local Business

My aunt’s flower business can’t get more local. Since 2008, Louisa was based out of her Montclair house where she had a walk-in refrigerator next to her kitchen, and her entire setup in her basement. 

“I’m from Montclair. This is where my bones are,” she told me.  

When Louisa first was getting started on Grove Street, she experienced the results of working in the town you grew up in. 

“When I had that store on Grove Street, that's how I made a living. I was a brand new business. Most businesses don't make it the first year, but I had so much family,” she said. “Everybody used me because they knew who I was.”

As I write these Community Check-Ins, I’m curious to know how being a local business, especially in the area you’re from, affects your clientele. Like I talked about with my dad’s store, he was constantly seeing familiar faces from his past and his present during his 30 years in Montclair. 

“Yes, I think being in Montclair is really what grew my client base, and you know, got me acknowledged. Back then, too,” Louisa explained. 

Her business is no longer located in Montclair, and since 2021, Louisa has been working out of her Verona storefront. 

During the pandemic, Louisa and her family moved out of Montclair for the first time, leaving her in-the-house fridge behind. 

“So I sold the house, not knowing, what the next phase of my business was going to be,” she said. “My realtor that helped me sell the house found this little spot here and said, ‘Why don't you try it for a year, and if things don't come back, I'll just not renew the lease.’”

Louisa moved into her new storefront in 2021, ironically on Grove Street, but in Verona, and for the first time, separated her home life and business. 

We talked about how different it is to no longer just walk to her basement to get to work. Now, when the day ends, she can shut the lights off and leave her work at work.

“I love going home to not having the business in my home. I love the idea of coming here, and it's here. It's more. Yeah, the store is more professional.”

She told me about how she misses Montclair, but by moving not far to Verona, Louisa was able to keep her original clientele close by, who mean so much to her.