"Not a lot of family businesses achieve this" - Zodiac Florists in Gosport celebrate 50 years in business
A family-run Gosport florists are getting ready to celebrate a remarkable achievement as it turns 50 years old later this month.
Zodiac Florists on Whitworth Road will reach half a century on Monday, March 24, with owner Adam Ayling carrying on the business his mum and dad first started in 1975. To mark the occasion, Adam is asking friends, family, and customers to share their memories and pictures of the business they have from over the years to help create a collage to be displayed in the window.
While Adam grew up in the flower trade, it all began before he was born. He said: “My mum was always in the flower trade, my nan and grandad originally ran a flower shop on Forton Road at the corner of St Luke’s. They then bought this place back in 1978 and converted it from a pub into a flower shop but they also sold fruit and veg originally.”
Longevity is a hard thing to achieve for all small businesses but Adam insists there is no secret to it, just hard work and a loyal base of customers. He said: “My mum and dad built up a good clientele and they have stayed loyal to us , but also me and my family have built our own customer base.”
It has not all been smooth going for the business with the last few years being particularly difficult. Adam said: “It’s been a scary few years. Obviously flowers are not a necessity when people are trying to keep roofs over their head and food on the table. We have all pulled together and come through it and are hoping to continue.”
With the big day around the corner, Adam and his wife Bekki, will be putting on tea, coffee, and cakes for customers and are hoping to create a memory collage. Adam said: ”We are going to have tea, coffee and cake here and we hope that friends, family, and customers can share memories with us so we can do a collage to put in our window.
“Afterwards we will turn it into a book so that my family can read it when they are older. It would be great if people could bring pictures in, message us on Facebook and Instagram, or just pop in and have a chat about their memories of the shop and my mum and family over the years.”
Adam added: “It is amazing that we can celebrate 50 years because not many family run businesses can achieve that milestone. Hopefully I can continue on and pass it down to my family.”