“Fran’s Flowers and Fudge”, it’s a nice alliteration that resonated in the community for many, many years, one that is about to disappear from the sign marking the popular store near the north end of Main Street: Fran Smith has decided to retire.
“We bought a then existing business in 1980 and I have been doing this ever since,” said Smith telling how she started her store three decades ago.
She adds that in the course of the 30 years she has been in the business, there were a lot of changes in the way they operated the business.
“When we started we were a traditional flower shop, which meant that we were selling flowers, plants and silk flowers.
“Then we sort of got into other things, more silk flowers and balloons, and then we went into fudge, which has been part of our business for, I think, 20 years,” she added.
Why the fudge?
“Flowers and candy has been a very good combo, people love it,” Smith says of her popular commodities.
“And it is a fudge made in Stettler, made right here in the store,” she adds.
Thirty years is a long time for any individual to keep doing the same thing without a break.
Was it because Fran Smith loved her business?
“Definitely,” she says with a big smile.
“It has been very satisfying for me.”
She then refers to her long cooperation with Karin Phibbs, who has been with Fran Smith for some 25 years as one pillar of stability in her business.
“People who have worked with me over the years have always stayed long, till they had to move to do other stuff.”
“I have been very fortunate with staffing and the community has been very good to me.”
Smith makes a special reference to “east country” as one of the important factors that helped her business survive and grow.
“East country was very important when we started and it still is,” Smith says with regard to communities lying east on Highway 12.
“When we first started we really needed business from the east country.”
Over the years, Fran’s Flowers and Fudge has changed location only once, moving one block south in late 80s, making it much more feasible to run the business.
“There was a very big window facing the north in the first shop,” recalls Smith, a window which made it quite expensive to maintain the inside temperature at a certain level to keep the flowers fresh and vivid.
Smith and Phibbs recall an incident in late 80s, before they moved to the current location, when somebody just put a rock through that huge window facing the north in winter time and how the snow coming from the hole froze all the Easter lilies.
Despite all the good things that her business brought to her life, Smith says she is tired and that she feels it is time to call it a day.
What comes next is as sweet as the fudge she has been making: “I am going to spend time with my grand kids,” Smith says with a big laughter.
“I will also do more quilting, I am going to do more golfing and I might just relax a little bit.”
All good things come to an end at one point; what is good in Fran Smith’s case is that when one good thing ends, other good things will start.