After growing her own wedding flowers, Jessica Cahill discovered she had a passion for floral design. Over the next 5 years, she completely changed careers and opened her own business in Greene County.
Now in its third year of operation and at a new location in downtown Coxsackie, Village Blooms has been welcomed into the community with open arms.
Owner Jessica Cahill discovered her passion for growing and arranging flowers after she decided to grow her own flowers for her wedding.
“It turned out I really loved it,” Jessica said.
During the pandemic, Jessica continued to expand her gardens and grow more flowers.
“Eventually I had so many flowers, I didn’t know what to do with them,” she said.
She began selling flowers outside her home in a vintage tea cart and found people really enjoyed buying her flowers.
“I noticed there wasn’t a florist in the town,” Jessica said. “At the time, they were building the Wire Event Center, there was a funeral home in town, and I thought this might be a great opportunity for me to become Coxsackie’s florist.”
Jessica took a leap of faith and enrolled in a floral design program at Flower School NY, which required her to commute to New York City by train every day for class. After completing her training, she left her full-time job as a daycare provider and opened her shop at 233 Mansion Street. In December 2024, she moved the shop to its current location at 1 Mansion Street.
“The environment is really lovely,” Jessica said of the shop’s new home, adding that she is surrounded by several other women-owned businesses.
With the demands of running the shop, Jessica had to take a step back from growing flowers. She likes to source flowers from local flower farms as much as possible, including her brother’s farm in Columbia County, which will be growing dahlias this year.
Jessica also tries to minimize waste by composting and avoiding using flower foam when possible. Leftover flowers from funerals are donated to the design program at Coxsackie-Athens High School and leftover flowers from weddings are distributed to the local senior center and senior living community.
In addition to bouquets and floral arrangements, Village Blooms also carries potted plants and a variety of handcrafted items including homemade candles, goat milk soap from Germantown and chocolates from Vasilow’s Confectionary in Hudson.
Purchasing flowers from local florists, like Village Blooms, helps support local businesses. Customers who use online flower wire services may not realize that their money does not go directly to the florist. Instead, a large chunk of the money goes to the procuring service, Jessica said.
Stop by Village Blooms for flowers for your special occasion or place an order online.
If you want to learn more about how to Make It In Greene, check out our free helpful business guides and contact the Invest In Greene team by email or phone at 518-719-3290.
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Topics: Success Stories
