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The news came down the pike back in December, when it became evident that former owners Don and Sue Baldus and their daughter, Susan Holt, were planning to sell the business that had been a fixture for more than two decades in the hospital district of Morristown.

Would the Blossom Shop close?

And what would happen to longtime employees Mike Johnson and Tim Webb?

To spill a bit of WINK tea – folks were getting concerned.

There was interest in buying the shop, building and all; however, the process was taking too long, according to Sue.

“We needed to make sure that Mike and Tim were taken care of. We are all like family,” she said after a recent Rotary Club of Morristown meeting.

“Susan and I were ready to retire at the end of the year,” Sue said “Susan has two grandchildren that she was ready to spend time with and enjoy. We just decided, ‘Let’s see what we can do.’ But we didn’t want to hurt the business, because we were a fixture in Morristown – all four of us.

Part of the more than 20 years of owning The Blossom Shop were the personal touches facilitated by the team.

It was not uncommon for Sue and Susan to be out on a Sunday and get a call from a regular customer saying they had just heard about the death of an acquaintance and needed a flower arrangement or a plant to be delivered to the funeral home that afternoon.

“That’s what we did. We went to the shop, we prepared something and went straight to the funeral home. And believe it or not, he was coming out of the funeral home as we were going in,” Sue said.

We kept thinking about it and wondering, ‘What are we going to do to get all this in order so it doesn’t hurt the business?” she said.

As good fortune would have it, a buyer came on the scene who was interested in purchasing the business and leasing the building, to serve as a silent partner.

The conversation was initiated at the shop counter, according to Sue, like many business transactions that occur in a developing city that still has a small town feel.

“He asked, ‘What’s going to happen?’ I told him, ‘If we can’t sell it, we’re going to close down at the end of the year.’ He said, ‘You can’t shut it down!!’ – “Well then buy it,’ I said.”

And there it was. The solution that worked for everyone, including and especially, the customers.

Susan will get time with her grandchildren (and husband, ‘Shorty’: rumor has it they have booked a cruise), and Don is happy to have Sue spending more time at their lakeside home – “I’m happy to be sleeping in late,” Sue quipped.

As for ‘the boys’ – well, it will be business as usual as far as they are concerned.

The talk between Mike and Tim, whether it be business acumen or a humerous story, is a bit like watching a good game of tennis: you’ve got to pay attention to keep up.

“We’re going to leave everything as is and run it as if they were still here,” Tim said. “There’s no change with that. They taught us how; so now that we know, we’re going to continue what they taught us.”

“We’re not going to try and fix something that’s not broke,” Mike said.

“So we’re going to run with it,” Tim said, “And hopefully make it bigger and better.”

The big holiday for florists is coming up this month. It’s basically a season, with weeks of planning and days of prepping, followed by a flurry of selling and delivering.

WINK had to ask – ‘What are you anticipating about Valentine’s Day?’

Tim didn’t hesitate: “The last day,” he said.

“When it’s over,” Johnson concurred.

There are typically customers, a majority of whom are male, who wait until nearly closing time on the big day, their eyes showing desperation as they belly up to the counter.

“Do you have anything left?” they’ll ask with that last bit of hope in their voice.

So the prep work, aided by a cadre of additional workers who return every year to help, is key to making sure those last minute shoppers find the perfect bouquet. The overwhelming majority of sales for florists on Valentine’s is fresh, rather than silk, arrangements.

“We’ll start making up (florist speak for ‘designing’) the week before,” Mike said. “We’ll work the Saturday and Sunday before and hopefully Monday and Tuesday, we’ll be getting everything out of here.”

The most requested color? The red roses.

“We’re going to keep it pink, red and white. We’ll have a few other things, but the primary is going to be those three. That’s what we did last year and it worked better that way because you didn’t have so many leftover. For the fresh, it’s going to be designer’s choice only. On their website, they’ll specify the arrangements that will be available.

Local businesses and physicians offices order Valentine’s Day flowers for their employees.

Tim still delivers; however, on Valentine’s Day he’ll be in the shop.

“We’ve got people lined up to work – we usually have five vehicles on the road,” Johnson said.

Susan helped with the Valentine’s Day order, which is the largest of the year.

“If she hadn’t, we wouldn’t have been able to do it,” Mike said.

“Sue and Susan were a big help during the transition,” Tim said.

Mike will be handling the majority of the office work, while Tim will be taking over the inventory ordering process. They will both continue designing.

“The accountant is going to come in at the end of the month to make sure I’m getting everything to him. But now I’m picky – everything’s got to be in its spot, so I’m of sort of really organized; so I know where stuff is at,” Mike said.

“Sue sat down with Mike for at least three weeks in December and showed him her part of the paperwork – and she still helped in the workroom as well,” Tim said.

“I pretty much knew how to do the ordering, because I had done it before,” Tim said. “Mike never really wanted part of that. Whenever Sue and Susan were on vacation, I took charge of that. And then I took charge of the pricing.

“I’d always finish a silk and say, ‘Here, you need to put a price on that,’” Mike said.

“Sue asked one day back in the workroom, ‘I want to know, in this arrangement here, I want everyone to tell me what dollar amount is involved in it,’ and I was the one who got it right,” Tim said. Sue said, “I can’t believe you were right on the money.”

“His mind works in numbers,” Mike said. “Mine works more in technology.”

And their design skills compliment one another, which is convenient to the type of business they are in.

“I can’t see the silk, I can see the fresh,” Tim said.

So, for the sake of argument, WINK asks, “Which one requires more technical ability?”

“If I started a silk, it would take me all day,” Tim said.

“Most people think about it too much,” Johnson said. “You just have to do it. Don’t think about it, just do it. It can be pulled out. And you can bend the stems.”

It’s nothing unusual to visit the workroom and the team members are each working on an arrangement. In the time it takes for them to complete that one design, Mike will have casually put together four or five.

It’s pretty incredible.

“I’ve done it for so long, I just don’t think about it,” Johnson said.

Tim started out as a driver and has developed a strong skill for designing fresh funeral arrangements and other fresh items over the two decades that he and Mike have been staples in the shop’s workroom.

His gift for gab comes naturally. It needed no training, or encouragement, really.

“My mom said I didn’t belong to her,” Tim said. “She said, ‘I don’t think I got the right baby at the hospital. You just talk to everybody.’”

“I don’t meet any strangers,” he conceded.

If they happen to be picking up shop supplies together, say at Walmart, the inevitable will happen – “I’m going to see somebody I know,” Tim said, “And I’m going to stand there and talk to them.”

After one particularly engaging conversation, Tim looked around the store for Mike. And kept looking. He finally resorted to calling him – “Where are you?”

“I’m in the car,” Johnson told him. “I’m done. I’ve checked out.”

Webb retorted, “Okay, I’m on my way. Unless I run into somebody else.”

“That’s fine. That’s just who he is. That’s who he’s always been,” Johnson said.

The boon for business is that Webb’s engaging personality has helped him build relationships with every funeral home in the area. He works part-time with Stetzer-Bales Funeral Home.

“Folks will see me in a suit and say, ‘Boy, you clean up nice,’” Tim said.

The secret to building a long-term business in a community is to provide a need. And not just to supply a necessary commodity, but to also meet people where they are in the moment, and even provide comfort along with service.

It all goes back to the attitude Tim has with regard to deliveries.

“I always make a point when I go in to a funeral home to let somebody know that I’m there. And I put my items where they need to be. I talk to the staff. I want them to know I have been in their establishment,” Webb said. “I’m not going to set it at the back door and run.”