Business Q&A: Feldis Florist

When it comes to expressing the inexpressible, nothing does the job like a nice, freshly-cut bouquet of flowers.

That’s a sentiment that Tim Feldis, owner of Feldis Flowers on Sunrise Highway, can certainly identify with. In one way or another, Feldis Flowers has been peddling the petals to Long Islanders for nearly 90 years. Feldis recently spoke with Patch about the rich history of his business and the simple joy of making people smile.

Tell us about what you do there at Feldis Flowers.

What we do is we deliver smiles. They just so happen to be the conduit. Flowers create such an emotional response, it’s amazing. You walk into any situation with flowers in your hand and people smile – they feel better. It’s just amazing what flowers will do. We sell flowers, but we also sell far more. We’re making a difference. You don’t go into the floral business unless you love it and everyone that works here does.

We also do balloons, gift and gourmet baskets and plants, but our primary focus is fresh flowers.

I understand there’s a lot of history behind Feldis Flowers. Tell us where it all started, and how it got to where it is today.

In 1922, my great-grandfather, a German immigrant, settled in Hempstead and bought some land to build houses. However, to support his family, he worked as a gardener for years while he built up his money to start his own American dream. But when the Great Depression hit, houses weren’t being built, so he dropped back to the flowers; growing and selling them. During the years the business grew, adapted and developed, and my grandfather got involved, then my father, and finally, me!

At one point we had greenhouses and nurseries in Hempstead, but times changed, and having all that didn’t work anymore. Your flowers are grown all over the world, and it’s not cost-effective to grow flowers here on Long Island. So, we sold the Hempstead property and moved the business here to Merrick four years ago.

With Mother’s Day just past us, can you tell us about what it’s like working in at florist shop during one of the biggest and busiest floral holidays of all time?

Working through Mother’s day, well, you push everything to the limit; I worked more than 100 hours that week. We’ve been planning for Mother’s Day right after Valentine’s Day. We start organizing, contacting the growers down in South America and making sure we had the right product at the right time. Demand for the product goes through the roof on Mother’s Day and you’ve got to make sure you have the good stuff.

What do you like about owning and operating a business in the Merrick area?

Merrick is a great town. Long Island is a great place to live and each town has its own unique personality. I like Merrick because it’s a good community and the Chamber of Commerce is fantastic. Plus, our Sunrise Highway location is high visibility, so there’s lots of traffic. It’s a fantastic location.