For the second year in a row, the Funky Petals floral shop has received gold in the Best of Airdrie Readers’ Choice Awards in the flower shop category.
Patty Duggan, the owner of the popular flower shop near Airdrie's downtown, said getting the award was a wonderful piece of news.
The flower shop is no stranger to the accolade, however, having also won the gold award in 2021. Before that, the shop received bronze in 2020, despite having only been open for a few months at the time.
“I think that we've just really embraced the community and the community’s really embraced us,” Duggan said. “We’re all about customer service and doing the best we can.”
After spending 30 years working as an accountant in Calgary, Duggan wanted a change that tapped into her creative side. She started looking into the floral industry and took some design classes.
Duggan quickly became interested in owning her own business and began renovating a storefront in Airdrie. The business is located in a historical home by downtown Airdrie, making the shop an ideal location that is visible to the whole community.
Duggan spent several months renovating the store before opening in June 2020, shortly after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“That wasn’t our plan, to start during the pandemic [but] it’s just kind of how it worked,” Duggan said.
Despite the repeated challenges, the pandemic hasn’t stalled the growth of the business. According to Duggan, Funky Petals continues to grow each and every day.
“We’ve just been growing since day one and it’s just been really great,” she added.
Although Funky Petals is part of a franchise, with locations spanning all across Alberta, Duggan said being part of a franchise has not limited her creativity.
“It’s not your typical franchise,” she added. “There’s not a lot of restrictions on us.”
In fact, the franchise model provides the store owners with a network of support more than anything else, according to Duggan.
“They’re owned by women, just like myself, and we’re like a little sisterhood and we lean on each other and help each other,” she said. “All of our shops are very different and we all run them differently, but we all kind of support each other.”
The business owners all help when tackling challenges, which happens frequently. Duggan said many unique challenges often occur when operating a business, but she is confident there is no challenge she and her team can’t overcome when tackling it together.
“Airdrie is just a wonderful place to do business and the people here are beautiful, lovely people. It’s been extremely enjoyable,” she added.
Heading into the future, Duggan is hoping to continue on the same path, growing Funky Petals steadily with each passing day.
“We have five ladies that work here, very talented ladies. They’re all part-time, but I would love to get us to the point where they’re all full-time,” she said.
“I just want to really thank the community…thanks for the love from Airdrie and we love you too.”
