Business is blooming
Photo by CHANSE WATSON Attendees of SOL & SERRE’s ribbon-cutting ceremony gather around while Sarah and Sean Murphy do the honors with giant scissors Wednesday night.
WALLACE — It seems like special occasions get a little better when some color is added to them. Sarah Murphy, owner of the recently opened SOL & SERRE flower shop in Wallace, is hoping to be the one who can provide that color.
The Silver Valley officially welcomed its second flower shop to the community with a ribbon-cutting ceremony Wednesday night in Wallace.
Taking the place of The Price Tag, a former antique/thrift store, SOL & SERRE has had its doors open since Dec. 1, 2018. Since that time, the little shop has been consistently busy — taking orders for weddings, holidays and other events.
Murphy has been up to the challenge though, as she has quite a bit of flower experience under her belt.
“I started working with flowers before I moved to the Silver Valley,” she said. “I worked at a place called the Rocket Market ... Shanda Shepherd is the one who first taught me how to do flowers. Then for the last four summers, I have been working in Coeur d’Alene with my girlfriend, Christen Davis, doing flowers for her business called Dragon Flower Design.”
It was during her time with Dragon Flower Design that she realized her workload was expanding and a change was needed.
“I learned a ton from her (Davis), but then friends started getting married and wanting me to do their weddings on the side. That wasn’t very fair to her (Davis) because I couldn’t be there when she needed me, so not too long ago I told her I was going to have to do my own thing.”
As a resident of Wallace since 2008, Murphy started looking for a storefront in town so she could finally cut down on her commute to work.
She explains that her love for working with flowers comes from a artistic passion that she has always had.
“I love color and I like texture,” she explained. “I definitely have enough of a knack for it, and I learned enough from Christen and Shanda that I can hack it on my own here (kind of making some of it up as I go).”
Originally from Tacoma, Wash., Murphy holds a degree in interior design from Washington State University.
She initially came to the Silver Valley in 2006 to work for Silver Mountain Resort. Since then, she has held (and currently holds) several positions across the area in both a professional and volunteer capacity. Her many hours of volunteer work were even recognized by the community recently when she was named “Volunteer of the Year” in January by the Silver Valley Chamber of Commerce (which she is also the president of).
As many could probably guess, the week of Valentine’s Day is a particularly busy one for flower shops and SOL & SERRE has been no exception.
Murphy said on Wednesday that this has been her busiest week so far.
“The whole week has been pretty great. I have about 75 orders for just Valentine’s Day. I bet I’ll probably get over 100 when all is said and done.”
This workload is all the more impressive considering that the shop also offers delivery service to the Silver Valley and limited delivery service to outside areas (i.e. Spokane and Coeur d’Alene).
In addition to flowers, the storefront itself also carries a selection of local, handmade gifts such as pottery, skin care products, clothing items and much more.
While Murphy is currently the shop’s only designer, she makes it clear that it’s not just a one-woman show.
“I have tons of background help though,” she said. “This wouldn’t be possible without a little extra help from others.”
SOL & SERRE is located at 618 Bank St. in Wallace and can be reach by phone at (509) 768-1670. For more information, visit their Facebook page.