About Moonstones & History
What started out as a normal evening in the local pub for 2 friends, turned into a merrily drunken evening in said pub, and led to Moonstones Ltd (Fareham Florist) being created. Neither friend has ever looked back since.
Sarah already had 19 years experience as a florist under her belt when the decision was made, and the fact that her boss at the time was selling her business to untrained florists made her leaving her job all the easier to do.
Once the idea and rough plans had been laid down, the company set up and registered, the next thing on the list was to find premises. This proved to be not as easy as we thought it would be. With both of us living in Fareham around the Highlands Road area, we settled on the local shopping precinct. As it was a shop had just become available and 3 more new builds were about to be, so it seemed like the ideal location. However when Sarah contacted the agents she found to her dismay that one of the shops had just had the lease signed and was to be a floral design shop. The difference between floral designers and florists is not that great, but neither of us had the heart to then take on one of the new builds and trample on the feet of the new floral shop owners, and so we were forced to look further afield.
Numerous premises were earmarked before the decision was made to move into an old bathroom/tile shop in Horndean village. Had we known when we signed the lease that the layers of tiles we could see that needed removing, had another 3 or 4 layers of tiles underneath, we probably would have changed our minds. However thanks to numerous cups of tea, and enough biscuits to keep McVitie (other biscuits are available) in business for a decade, a team of friends and family transformed a grotty run down place into a light, bright and airy florist shop in just 3 weeks.
Sadly although business was (pardon the pun) blooming, the village itself was sinking into decline and the closure of the main Gales brewery only added to the destruction that was going on all around and after 3 successful years trading we were faced with a tough decision, that was that a move to new premises was now a must. And so the search began again.
That is how we came to be where Sarah always wanted to be. By chance one evening Sarah made a visit to the chippie in Fareham Park Road and noticed that the premises next door were empty. This had been a sweet shop when Sarah was at school and she used to pass it every day. Often she would tell people that one day she would own the shop (she didn't know then that she was going to be a florist) and so when she saw it was available she got on a mission to talk Clive into moving there. He wasn't keen at first, partly because there is another shop over the road (the one that opened up when we first wanted to) and partly because he wasn't sure the area would be right, but after some intervention from friends and family he agreed to take a look. As it is both of us live within a 5 minute walk of the shop (in different directions) and so it is perfectly positioned for us. Once we had viewed the premises we knew that it was perfect and within 6 weeks the lease was signed, the work benches built and we were trading from our new position up the road from home. We've been here 4 years now and things have never been so good.
Business is going from strength to strength and thankfully we have never looked back.
With wedding bookings being taken up to 3 years in advance we know we'll be here for a good many years to come.
Specialties
As all of our customers are important to us and we would hate to alienate anyone, we made the conscious decision not to move into one specific area of floristry, and as such we specialise in all areas and cater to all budgets.
The fact that all our work comes from recommendations (local funeral directors, wedding venues, happy customers) is more than we could ask for and as we don't advertise anywhere that makes the recommendations all the more important to us.
Location & Delivery
Situated around the corner from the main throng of a local shopping parade, on the outskirts of Fareham, we are often told we are a "Gem of a find" which is great to hear.
While we can never 100% guarantee a delivery time for orders (except funerals) our driver Clive (sadly he's no George Clooney - but he's friendly enough) will go out of his way to be as accommodating as possible for you (when he's not available his Dad steps up to the plate for us) to ensure we try to get your flowers delivered as close to the time you require as possible.
Delivering is possibly the hardest job with traffic (and tractors - we are semi-rural) but there is nothing worse than when they are having to drive up and down a road looking for a house that has no name up so any directions, hints or tips you can give are always more than welcomed - it also means the flowers spend less time in the back of a delivery vehicle and more time with the recipient - for them to enjoy.
Florist Choice
Cut Flowers
Pretty In Pinks
Cool Creams
