The picturesque town of Bandarawela is famous its stunning crop of flowers, from beautiful chrysanthemums and roses to an array of colourful gerberas and it was growing up surrounded by all these beautiful fresh flowers that saw a passion for them grow in Dilshara Perera and the eventual shift to running her family’s flower shop “Blooms”.

Located in Nugegoda, far from the lush hill tops of her home town, the containers of sweet smelling flowers that fill the Blooms store come straight from the plantation in Bandarawela, where they are grown in greenhouses and are an everyday reminder of home and family for Dilshara.

Speaking about her childhood, she describes it as being very different from what is commercially accepted these days, instead of playing indoors with Barbie dolls, she preferred running around outdoors and helping her father, a retired planter, grow flowers in their garden. The abbundance of flowers at home was what would later result in her father opening his own flower shop in 1994.

 

 

At age 13, Dilshara commenced schooling at St. Bridgets' College. Alone in colombo and missing home, she speant much of her free time at her fathers shop in Colombo and after completing her A/levels, having already developed a deep love for Blooms, she asked her parents to let her help out in the shop. “My mother is a lawyer and I think her dream was for me to be a lawyer or doctor, but a desk job just doesn’t suit me. I do have a degree in bussiness management and marketing but I’m not a corporate girl. I’m very outgoing and playful so a job in an office just feels very ‘caged’ to me” Dilshara explained.

 

 

 

Work took a back seat after her marrige and the birth of her son, but after a few years, Dilshara realized she had free time to think of the shop again and with the support of her family decided to take over running the shop from her father in 2010. “My husband really motivated me to take up the business and gave me lots of moral support and my son who is 7 years old now loves the shop as well. They give me inspiration!” she said with a smile.  Dilshara is actively involved in every angle of the business and frequently travels out of town for work to make sure customers get the very best.  “I love the traveling because I get to meet people from all walks of life, I’ve learnt a lot of life lessons from my work,” She added.

 

 

She also has plenty of praise for her hard working and creative staff, some who have been involved with the shop since her childhood. “My Staff have so much of talent; sometimes clients will come in and ask to be served by certain members of staff because they see how good they are at what they do.” When it comes to taking orders, Blooms undertakes everything from personalized bouquets, weddings, offices and houses. “Clients now realise the beauty and calming effect of having fresh flowers at home so they bring me their vases to decorate and take home. I personally work with each client to make sure they get what they want within their budget."

"A lot of people don’t realise some flowers are more expensive than others because growing and maintaining them is costly but they come here because they know they’ll always get something good. I prefer simple arrangements especially for bridals, I think flowers should always enhance beauty, not bury it.” Dilshara says, adding that even though Blooms works at full capacity everyday, they’ve hardly done any sort of advertising or commercials, with most clients hearing of the store through word of mouth; this can be credited to their excellent personalized customer service.

 

 

With business growing at a rapid pace, Dilshara hopes to open another Blooms outlet soon on Havelock Road to cater to more customers. “Blooms is more of a passion than a business so my happiness comes from seeing the satisfaction and happiness of my customers.”

 

Check out the store at https://www.facebook.com/bloomsflowers

 

 

 

 

By Lake Argent

Pics by Pradeep Dilrukshana