Every Bloomin’ Thing moves to Coralville location

Iconic Iowa City floral shop, Every Bloomin’ Thing, has moved locations after over 20 years at 2 Rocky Shore Drive. The floral studio, now located at 418 10th Ave. Coralville, offers residents a brick-and-mortar location for personalized floral arrangements and easy access for both customers and delivery vans. Parking was an issue at the Rocky Shore Drive location, especially during weekends that corresponded with games and busy seasons. The close proximity to a stoplight at an intersection made navigation tricky for customers. “When you made that left-hand turn, people would follow so closely to make it through the light. They felt like they were going to get rear ended,” said Kerrie Buettner, owner. Accommodating delivery vehicles was also difficult, and the Iowa City floral market was highly competitive. When Ms. Buettner and her husband, co-owner Zach Buettner, bought the business in 2019, the five year lease she signed gave her time to search for a more suitable location, a process that took two years. “We were just kind of evaluating the landscape of floral shops in the area, (and they) all tended to be heavily in the Iowa City area,” she said. Coralville gave them a chance to expand into an area not already heavily saturated by the floral industry. The Buettners looked at six-to-seven locations before deciding on the current one, partly attractive because it was a blank slate. “Basically everything was taken down to the studs in the floor. (We) refloored, re-walled, rewired and replumbed so it's basically like a new building,” said Mr. Buettner, and they moved in the weekend after Valentine’s Day. The new space also had to have character, said Ms. Buettner. “My hesitation as a designer was, ‘how do you move an iconic location to another space?’” she said.

The painted white bricks and wrought iron railings of the new location were just the right look for Ms. Buettner’s summer plans to give the space an English garden aesthetic. “The look is going to be beautiful, and what you would see if you were in England, or if you were in Ireland…I'm kind of viewing this space as the modern evolution of Every Blooming thing. We have not changed the design style. We haven't changed anything. We've just freshened it up,” she said. The Coralville location also gives the Buettners a chance to expand their offerings, as well as a physical address for a diversification of their business, Memorable Moments, which offers full-service special event planning. “(The building) being as open as it is, does enable us the ability to maybe do some classes, which we have not really gotten into before, because we were just too restrictive in space,” said Ms. Buettner. “I'm very excited because it feels like mine now,” said Ms. Buettner. “And this is the vision I had when I first bought Every Bloomin’ Thing. You don't want to change everything when you first come into a place. So now that we've been working the business for a few years, I definitely think we captured the personality of what we do.” March 19 marks the five-year anniversary that the Buettners bought Every Bloomin’ Thing, and they plan to host an open house March 22-23. Their hours of operation are 8:30 a.m. - 5:30 p.m. Tuesday-Friday, and Saturday from 10 a.m. - 2 p.m.