Monday Business Profile: Northside Florist

This week's Monday Business Profile is on Northside Florist, 13642 N. Florida Ave.

Find out more below:

Owner:

A family-run business for three generations, Dan and Kathy Gilbert now run the bulk of the operation.

Vital Stats:

Phone: 813-264-1811 (local). Or, 1-800-267-8741. On the Web: Northsideflorist.com. Doing business since 1962.

Type of Business:

Full service florist. Northside Florist can help with special occasions for individuals and also for events including birthdays, weddings and funerals.

About the Company:

For the Gilbert and Thomas families, flowers are a family affair.

“We’ve been in the business since 1962. We’re a family business,” Kathy Gilbert said. “My grandmother started it, and then it was my mother, and now myself.”

Although her grandmother, Belle Thomas, started making arrangements on her front porch shortly after taking a floral class, it wasn’t long before what was to be the family business was opened on Florida Avenue. About 22 years ago, the business moved to its current location on North Florida Avenue.

Kathy Gilbert’s mother, Alene, started in the business doing bookkeeping, but also designed arrangements.

“Everyone helped," said Kathy Gilbert. "I would work every day after school, every weekend and every holiday. It was always a lot of fun.”

One of Kathy Gilbert’s earliest memories as a little girl is of sitting on top of a table, helping make arrangements and getting feedback from her grandmother.

Kathy Gilbert said that Alene Thomas, now 81, still works one day a week at the shop.

“She’s amazing,” Kathy Gilbert said.

Now married 34 years to Dan Gilbert, the two began dating in high school when Dan worked for a florist making deliveries. Since then, he has worked in different fields through his professional full-time career. Now, he's back at his wife’s family’s business.

“I’ve helped since I was 16,” Dan Gilbert said. “Her father used to tell me, ‘You’ll have to take over this business.’ Turns out, he was right.”

Kathy Gilbert said she enjoys floral design and working with customers, but her favorite aspect is weddings.

“Nothing’s ever the same,” she said. “All the brides are looking for something unique, and I love that end of the business.”

Flowers are loved by almost everyone, but they are especially cherished by the elderly customer who may receive a bouquet from a son or daughter. “Nothing is better than hearing, ‘This made my day,’” Dan Gilbert said.

“Our motto is that we are covering Tampa with sunshine,” Kathy Gilbert said.

Then there are the customers who may need flowers to make a little more sunshine than others.

“We had a man who desperately wanted to get back with his girlfriend,” Kathy Gilbert said. “He sent 10 different items, one every day, and they got larger each time. At first, she didn’t want to accept them, but she gradually did.”

The couple, she said, ended up back together.

One arrangement that will stay with Kathy Gilbert for a long time, she said, wasn’t for a wedding. It was for a funeral for one of Northside’s employees. “We made something unique and tropical for his funeral,” she said, “that represented things he loved.”

Everyone has personal tastes that come through with flowers, and the florists themselves are no exception. Kathy Gilbert said her favorite flower is the White Oriental Lily, a flower with a soft fragrance and an elegant look. Dan Gilbert said his favorite is a little more common–the carnation.

“It’s old-fashioned,” he said, “but I love them.”