BY LEE ANN SANDWEISS
Bloomington’s newest flower shop has a name that’s easy to remember—Bloomin’ Tons Floral Company—and an address that has a long history in the business.
Explains Deborah Corcoran, Bloomin’ Tons owner, “In late December 2012, my friend Shella Turpin, who works part time at a florist, called and told me that the old Ellis Floral building was available and that I should come and look at it.” Corcoran, who lives in Martinsville and formerly owned Reed’s Flower Shop in Indianapolis, decided to check it out and ended up leasing the space at 416 S. Washington St.
She then worked at a breakneck pace for a month—cleaning, painting, organizing—and Bloomin’ Tons opened in January. “To make it easy for customers, we’ve even kept the same phone number, 336-7201, that Ellis Floral had,” she says.
While Bloomin’ Tons offers traditional floral arrangements and caters to events that require custom floral design, Corcoran, a former marketing major and second-generation florist, plans on giving customers some new creations.
“We’ve launched a new floral concept just for men; we call it the ‘I’m a Jerk’ bouquet,” she says. “It’s for those times when a guy has done something dumb and wants to get into his wife’s or girlfriend’s good graces.”
Corcoran gets additional tips and ideas from former Ellis Floral owner Judi Ellis, who often drops in to chat and help out. “I pick her brain every chance I get,” says Corcoran.
One of Bloomin’ Tons first orders came in late January when Corcoran was asked to design the flowers for the symbolic group wedding ceremony officiated by Mayor Mark Kruzan at the Bloomington Pride LGBTQ Film Festival.
Corcoran says that because of startup costs her marketing budget is lean, but she has found social media effective in getting the word out. “Before an arrangement goes out for delivery, we take a picture of it and post it on our Facebook page—that way people can see that we’ve always got something new and beautiful going out the door.”
