Pondview Florist in Winchester Celebrates 12th Anniversary

will celebrate its 12th anniversary this Saturday, Sept. 24, with a day of discounts and drawings.

There will be a 12 percent discount all day on in-store purchases and orders delivered locally. At 12:12 p.m., there will also be a drawing for a $120 gift card to the store, which will be valid for a year and can be used incrementally. Throughout the day, light refreshments will be offered as well.

Owner Diane DeSimone said she had never done an event like this, but wanted to do something special to celebrate the store’s anniversary.

“Twelve years ago, I decided I wanted to buy the shop, and the rest is history,” DeSimone said. She had worked as a florist in Winchester her entire career and, when she did buy her own shop, she knew it had to be in Winchester.

“It’s a great town. I love that people come downtown. The weekends are awesome,” DeSimone said, adding some people just come into the shop to say hello.

Others, especially children, come into Pondview Florist to visit Lulu, the store’s cockatiel. Lulu came to the flower shop when the mother of one of DeSimone’s customers had to go to a nursing home and couldn’t bring her bird. The customer asked if DeSimone would take Lulu, and she said yes.

“I love birds,” DeSimone said. “It’s fascinating. It’s nice to watch people talk to the bird. Kids love her.”

DeSimone supports the town whenever she can, sponsoring window boxes at this past summer, doing flowers for the , and providing flowers for the schools whenever they’re needed.

Pondview Florist does everything from small arrangements to weddings and bar mitzahs. They also do custom artificial arrangements, silk arrangements, and wreaths. In addition, DeSimone has a few customers who hire her to decorate their houses for the holidays every year.

DeSimone’s daughter works as a florist in the shop too. After getting a degree from The New England Institute of Art in Brookline, Jennifer DeSimone decided to join the staff at Pondview Florist. She and her mother now work together to come up with artistic visions for arrangements.

“We’ll brainstorm and come up with an idea and develop it together until we come up with what the customer wants,” DeSimone said.

Like many small businesses in town, Pondview Florist prides itself on customer service and ties to the community. DeSimone said she loves her job, especially the customers and the beauty of the flowers.

“There’s never a day that I think, ‘I don’t want to work today,’” DeSimone said.

More information on the shop’s 12th anniversary celebration can be found on the Pondview Florist Facebook page.