Tuesday, November 29, 2011

About The Owner

Melissa MaasMELISSA
MAAS
-OWNER


Owner and operator, Melissa Maas grew up with a love of flowers. Even when she was little, she begged her dad to build her a greenhouse in the back yard. She had dreams of filling it with flowers. When she was old enough, she worked in flower shops throughout high school and college. After graduating from the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh, Melissa attended the Floral Design Institute in Seattle, WA where she received her Advanced Floral Certificate.

In the spring of 2004, the opportunity arose for her to purchase a flower shop in her hometown and her dreams became a reality. At the age of 24, she bought Bank of Memories & Flowers in Menomonee Falls located in the Historic Village Center. A year later she opened a second location in Pewaukee, two blocks east of Pewaukee Lake.

This really is a family business. Melissa's husband Tom helps out with the business side. "I love bouncing off ideas late into the night in our home office together." Melissa and Tom also have a four year old daughter named Florence. "We love her name, we chose it because it means flourishing and blooming." Melissa and Tom are also expecting a baby this Christmas!

Melissa also serves on the Teleflora Board of Wisconsin and Upper Michigan where she helps organized seminars to further other florist’s education. Melissa continues to grow her inspiration and her business every year, doing everything from designing to delivery. “I wouldn’t want to
be doing anything else, I am truly blessed.”


We were in the News!

Menomonee Falls Patch

Holidays Promise Business Boost for Bank of Memories and Flowers

Popular Menomonee Falls Florist offers Thanksgiving and Christmas decorating with that personal touch.


By any measure, the local business climate has been kind to Bank of Memories and Flowers ever since owner Melissa Maas first opened her doors about nine years ago. The floral shop, located in historic downtown at the four corners of Appleton Avenue at Main Street (N88 W16723 Appleton Avenue) has enjoyed consistently excellent reviews as one of the finest florists in the Milwaukee area.

However, with the Holiday Season at our doorstep, manager Krista Roskopf says she is expecting an extra bump in business as people incorporate plants and flowers in their Thanksgiving and Christmas decorating plans. Customers have always appreciated the shop’s wide selection of floral arrangements and unique gift items.

“We do a lot of different, unique designs,” said Roskopf. “We can do custom work because we carry a wide assortment of flowers. If people don’t see exactly what they want we are able to get it for them, usually that same day. Plus, we do a lot of event work such as weddings as well. Another thing that we’re really proud of is that we have all of our floral designs and plant designs at Community Memorial Hospital. Not only are people able to buy our arrangements here, we always have a wide assortment of flowers arranged in Community Memorial’s cooler, too.”

The regulars also come to visit their favorite character, the shop’s cat, Chloe.

“Some people come in just to see her,” said Roskopf. “She’s kind of been our family around here, too. People love to see her because we have these two big windows and we put different displays up for every season. She’s known for sitting in the displays so when the lights shine up on her people see her from the four corners and it just brightens people’s day.”

Customers also come looking for that special, unique center piece for the Holiday table.

“We do a lot of fall center pieces including candles and we carry a lot of floral novelty containers that even have arrangements, ceramic pumpkins and different types of vases,” said Roskopf. “We do a lot of the fall chrysanthemums as well because that is something that will thrive for a long time.”

Roskopf and her staff handle plenty of special floral decorative requests, especially for Christmas, at their Falls shop as well as their second location in Pewaukee. More often than not, they ply their craft right in the customer’s home.

“We actually go into the peoples’ homes where we decorate their trees,” said Roskopf. “We use a lot of our specialty ribbons and ornaments where we’ll go into the home and decorate. We can even use their decorations from year to year including putting up their villages above their kitchen cabinets and handling their complete Christmas decorations.”

It’s that direct customer contact that Roskopf has always found interesting and exciting.

“I like doing those special occasions,” said Roskopf. “I recently did an arrangement for a new baby. That’s always exciting talking with the people, especially when there’s a fun occasion such as new births, a new promotion or anything like that.

“I think the Menomonee Falls business climate is really good. The people around here are really nice, too. The only negative in being at a location like this is parking. A lot of people don’t realize that they can park right on Main Street. Parking is the only complaint that we ever get. But the Falls is a great place for our business.”

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Our Fabulous Designer, Holly!


Holly Geffers is one of our newest members of our fantastic designers that has joined our team at our Pewaukee location. She has been a florist for over 14 years! When she isn't designing beautiful arrangements she enjoys taking her two dogs for walks, designing mosaics, and raising her two cute boys. When she wants to escape her busy life, she and her family head up to their cottage for bike rides, fishing and some fun in the sun. Holly also checks out different restaurants with her girlfriends for a night on the town.

When asked what she enjoys most about her career in flowers she said, "being able to use my creativity to design unique arrangements for special occasions, such as weddings." Holly loves Bank of Memories' fun atmosphere and has made fast friendships with her coworkers at the shop. She can't see herself doing anything else other than working with flowers! Holly says jokingly that she usually leaves part of her paycheck at the shop because she can't resist buying all the new gift-ware that arrives frequently. Holly is a great addition to our Pewaukee team and we are so happy to have her!!