Flower Merchant to relocate from longtime home

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From the Ground Up: Morris Dock Development Center

The Flower Merchant Ltd. plans to relocate three miles down South Campbell Avenue from its first and only home in the Camelot Center.

Pat Phillips, the owner of the flower shop, said he’s planning a late December move to the Morris Dock Development Center, 4608 S. Campbell Ave. He entered a definitive agreement to lease the development’s 3,500-square-foot first building when it’s completed. Completion is slated early this month.

“It’s in a part of the city with a lot of new development,” Phillips said of the center. “We wanted a new face.”

Currently at 2303 S. Campbell Ave., Phillips said the aging building does not work with The Flower Merchant’s plans to add design lessons and shopping events and cure more fresh product. He added the Morris Dock Development Center building would allow easier access for the company’s delivery trucks, as well as exterior lighting to improve safety.

Phillips said The Flower Merchant is on pace to hit $450,000 in sales this year, which would be a slight increase over 2017.

Phillips founded the business 33 years ago, but he’s been in the Camelot Center building for 45 years. He previously worked in the building when it was Designs by Darlene.

The Flower Merchant is occupying one of three buildings planned at the center, Dock said this morning. He said a restaurant, which he declined to name, is interested in the second, 4,000-square-foot building slated for completion in March 2019. A third 2,500-square-foot building is planned to be built at a later date. Dock has said site work cost at least $600,000 with fill dirt brought in to even out a sloping terrain.

The center is on property that formerly housed Morris’ general contracting business MoDoCo Inc. He said MoDoCo is now operating at 909 E. Republic Road in the Twin Oaks Office Park.