Today we’d like to introduce you to Johanna Silva and Claudia Leon.
Johanna, please share your story with us. How did you and Claudia get to where you are today?
When Claudia and Edgar opened their doors in 1995, with a 9-month-old little boy and a 5-year-old little girl (me), they had one aim in mind, “let’s sell the freshest flowers, create the most modern designs, but most of all, let’s make sure each person that walks through our doors feels like family.”
My parents drew on their floral experience by coming from a floral importation background. They curated a team of designers with a strong sense of color and technique and a genuine passion for flowers. This has proved to be a winning combination, establishing Andes’ Florist as the premier name in the South Bay coast of California, and surrounding areas.
Andes’ Florist has since received several awards including Small Business of the Year (2019), the Torrance Advantage People to People Award, BloomNation Premier Florist title, named South Bay’s best multiple times, and more.
Today, Andes’ Florist is operated by my mom and me. My mom runs the day to day orders while I lead all of our weddings, events, social media and corporate clients. Some of our clients include Nordstrom, BMW and the City of Torrance. We’re on the preferred lists of several venues throughout the South Bay and still make sure every customer is treated with the utmost care through and through.
“Since we opened our doors in 1995, we’ve had a growing, successful clientele due most in part to how our flowers and service make people feel.” – Claudia
“We create little sparks of joy through flowers, daily. I do my best to give our followers an inside look into our story and our craft.” – Johanna
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
August 2019 marks our 24th year as owners of Andes’ Florist and the journey has been wild and rewarding, though not always the easiest. One of the biggest struggles was felt earlier this year when our shopping center was sold. With new management, we acquired an 80% increase in rent. It was an emotional blow, but we stayed positive and promised ourselves to give it our all in order to keep growing.
As luck would have it, just after the drastic overhead increase we received a letter saying we had just been named Small Business of the Year in all of Torrance! It was a huge honor, but most of all it was that motivation we needed to keep doing what we love most. We changed our fears into ammo and made it our mission to stay positive, continue improving our craft, staying ahead of trends and expanding while keeping our values true to what they were when we first opened our doors.
The biggest lesson we’ve learned as entrepreneurs and as women go-getters is that if it’s your thing then it will pan out, even if it seems like all the odds are against you. Stick to it and put your heart into it, don’t cut corners, go the extra mile, and give, give, give. Give your time, give your authentic care and give more than just what your customer is paying you for, give an experience. People know when they’re being cared for and when they’re being treated like a number.
Also, we urge you to consider collaboration over competition. We’ve collaborated with entrepreneurs and visionaries, supported their cause, and created some amazing projects together. Focus your attention more on collaboration and thinking outside the box and less on what your competition is doing or not doing.
Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about Andes’ Florist – what should we know?
We’re a full-service floral shop… this little phrase covers A LOT. Flowers are needed for several occasions and we’ve got you covered on all of them.
Fun Fact: All of our arrangements come with a small crystal stud in bloom and a butterfly to hold your card, that’s how you know your arrangement came from Andes’ Florist.
Weddings/Events:
Being on the preferred vendor’s lists of dozens of venues throughout the South Bay and LA/OC areas for almost 2.5 decades has resulted in lots of insight and experience translated into creative floral opportunities. We’re there for you every step of the way. From the consultation, to sample reviews, last-minute adjustments through to event day setup. Our clients have told us that working with us is easy, transparent and the flowers and services have exceeded expectations.
Flower Crowns:
From flower girls to new mommies at their baby showers to music festivals and more, our flower crowns are all custom made to order, and the design possibilities are limitless. Check out our Instagram for photos! @andesflorist
Everlasting Roses:
These are real roses that can last up to a year or longer! We are the only ones to have them in-house in the entire South Bay. Our Everlasting Roses are imported directly from Ecuador where they are preserved and the outcome is that our roses continue to look and feel like real roses – because they are real – with the difference being that they will maintain their integrity and color for up to a year. These come in an array of fun colors including Royal and Tiffany Blue, Black, Pink, and even Rainbow!
Corporate:
We work with several corporate partners providing weekly floral and plant services. We’ll even remember your team members’ and clients’ birthdays and send flowers on your behalf, (no more risk of forgetting someone’s big day!) Also, we provide in-office and holiday party decor and installations, work with many real estate teams and more.
Prom and Graduation:
Our Corsages and Boutonnières were all the rage this year on our Instagram account! Each set can take up to an hour to make because of the attention to detail we put in each design. We customize ribbons to outfit colors, add crystals and use an assortment of miniature roses, orchids, tuberose, and other high-end blooms. We can always customize as well. For our graduates, from kindergarten to doctorates we add bows that match school colors to all of our flower leis.
Sympathy:
Our priority is listening to the sender and what they’re trying to portray when sending flowers as a remembrance to the life of someone who passed. The feedback we’ve gotten was that for the price you pay at our store, you get “a lot more bang for your buck.” Our arrangements are grandiose, elegant and modern. We provide full set-up and transportation service for large scale easel arrangements.
We’re interested to hear your thoughts on female leadership – in particular, what do you feel are the biggest barriers or obstacles?
Some barriers we as women may experience is a lack of initial credibility. But instead of feeling discredited we just get excited to think of how those peoples’ minds will be blown once they see the innovations we bring to the table. PS… We love seeing the positive, motivational platforms online that encourage sisterhood in real life, let’s focus on that!
Contact Info:
- Address: 22928 Hawthorne Blvd.
Torrance, CA 90505 - Website: www.andesflorist.com
- Phone: 310-375-6371
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/andesflorist/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/andesflorist/
Image Credit:
RickNation Photo, Jessica Lynn Photography, Cinestory Films, Treasure4Life Photography
Suggest a story: VoyageLA is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
