New store, Serendipity, brings bright energy, fresh smells to Commercial Street
Glass vessels full of balloons representing each color of the rainbow carefully sit behind the front counter as the smell of freshly cut, vibrant flowers fill the air. This is Commercial Street’s newest business, Serendipity, opening its doors for the first time this weekend.
Sandwiched between Hakaar’s Bazaar and Randy Bacon Photography, Serendipity is located at 215 W. Commercial St. The one-stop-shop for event decorations is a collaboration between Cherrelle Hitchcock, owner of Flora & Forge Farm, and Sydnie Meyers, owner of Dreamy & Darling Creations.
Serendipity’s open house is Saturday from 9 am to 6 pm After this weekend, the shop’s hours are Wednesday through Friday from 11 am to 6 pm
Serendipity is a blend of Flora & Forge Farm and Dreamy & Darling Creations. The shop will offer floral and balloon arrangements, take-home decoration kits and locally-crafted products.
Through Flora & Forge Farm, Hitchcock manages the floral side of Serendipity. The shop offers custom-made floral arrangements, house plants and a bouquet bar. In a do-it-yourself style, customers may choose from an array of locally grown flowers to take home to create their own arrangements.
Most of Serendipity’s flowers grow at Hitchcock’s family farm. Hitchcock said the family follows organic practices, including the use of companion planting (rather than monoculture, where one crop is planted over an entire field) and no pesticides. Flowers not grown at Hitchcock’s farm were brought in from other local nurseries and growers.
Flora & Forge Farm also offers a membership program called Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) Flower Shares. Members may choose from a once-a-month or twice-a-month membership to receive a handcrafted bouquet of flowers from Hitchcock. CSA Flower Shares bouquets are available for pickup or delivery on Fridays.
The other half of the business is managed by Meyers and includes on-site balloon arrangement installations, small balloon bouquets and a balloon bar, where folks can create their own arrangement from a wall of different colors and sizes of balloons. Meyers said she has created large balloon arrangements for weddings, baby showers, graduation parties and celebrations of life.
Serendipity also offers Dreamy & Darling Creations’ signature Pop Box, a grab-and-go style balloon kit. Each Pop Box features balloons, strings and instructions. Initially, only the mid-size Pop Box will be available for sale at the store for $49 each.
Meyers said she hopes options like the full-service installations and take-home kits will appeal to both folks who enjoy long-term planning and others who may be more last-minute party planners.
Providing options for both ends of the financial scale is important to Hitchcock and Meyers. Arrangements and kits start at around $50 and range up to $500, depending on the request.
In addition to flowers and balloons, Serendipity will also offer other event decorations and accessories, such as themed tableware and cake toppers. Products handcrafted by local artisans will also be available, such as bath bombs and beard oil from Sassafras Hill Homestead in Highlandville and jewelry from Flourish Leather Co. based in Ozark.
During the winter, Hitchcock hopes to hit the ground running with community workshops, as this will be the off season for her flowers and she only sources locally-grown materials. Hitchcock said workshops may center around working with dried and pressed flowers, crafting evergreen wreaths and creating succulent arrangements.
Creating time and space for family
Hitchcock and Meyers met each other through two different circles, a local congregation they both attended and through shared experience with Type 2 diabetes. In recent years, one of Hitchcock’s sons was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes and when Meyers learned of this, he reached out. Meyers also suffered from Type 2 diabetes and was eager to provide any advice to help the Hitchcock’s as they began to navigate a new lifestyle.
The two women have been operating their respective businesses for several years, but the decision to partner together on Serendipity truly just fell into place at the right time.
“About the same time, we both were looking to get our businesses out of our homes,” Meyers said.
Both women said they had dreams of opening a business on Commercial Street but were wary of the cost of rent on their own. One day, Hitchcock called Meyers to inquire about the space he was working out of with a few other local vendors. While Meyers liked the current space she was in, she happened to be scheduled to visit a building for rent on Commercial Street later that day. After Hitchcock expressed his shared interest in the area, the two began to discuss the idea of opening a business together. The rest, as they say, is history.
Hitchcock already has a pre-established relationship with Commercial Street. For the last two years, she’s been a full-time vendor at the C-Street City Market and several businesses in the area, including Blue Heron Euro Farm & Bakery, purchasing display flowers from her regularly.
“I just love the community aspect of C-Street,” Hitchcock said. “It’s such an up-and-coming and wholesome community.”
A big part of why Hitchcock and Meyers operate their own small businesses is to have frequent, quality time with their families.
Hitchcock lives on a five-acre farm just north of Springfield with her husband Samuel and their three children, Kael, Ezekiel and Joel. When not growing and selling flowers, Hitchcock enjoys being on the farm with his family, three goats, two dogs, four cats, 30 chickens and leopard gecko.
Meyers is celebrating her eighth anniversary with her husband Morgan and is excited for her two children, Hendrix and Haven, to grow up on Commercial Street.
In addition to the soft opening of Serendipity, the Historic Commercial Street district is hosting a Summer Stroll on Saturday from 10 am to 6 pm Folks are encouraged to enjoy the businesses along the one-mile loop of Commercial Street, while taking in large floral arrangements that will be on display throughout the area.
This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: Serendipity, floral and balloon arrangement studio, opens on C-Street
