Easter Ross florist marks 25-year milestone as career choice comes up roses
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A Tain woman who has devoted her entire life to flowers has celebrated a major milestone.
When tot Sandra McKinlay was helping mum and dad, Sandy and Agnes Macdonald, in their Stafford Street shop 56 years ago, even sleeping in flower boxes, little did she know she would still be pursuing the family vocation today.
An estimated three-quarters of a million orders later, however, she has been marking a special anniversary at the helm of the business started with a security of £50 by her dad in 1963.
This week, The Flower Shop Tain, based at R&B Garden Centre on Morangie Road, celebrated a quarter of a century under Sandra’s guidance.
During her stewardship, the business has moved three times with the help of trusted local renovator, Richard MacKenzie, evolving with changes to the high street, fashion and the switch to online selling.
Today, the business employs four people but retains the family values Sandra advocates.
Husband Alastair, retired former school rector, is deployed as chief "delivery boy", with daughters Lianne and Laura, when back home, assisting with social media marketing and orders.
Despite her 56 years as a member of Interflora, grafter Sandra has no intention of giving up on the florist business she left school for at the age of 16.
“Her work is more than a passion, it is who she is,” said daughter Lianne, speaking on behalf of her mother, whom she described as ‘too modest’ to speak about past- or present- achievements.
“She is a grafter, gets on with things and would never see anyone stuck. Her focus has always been on the customers and the community. Her view is that you get out of something what you put in. I know her father would be proud of where she has taken the business today and as a family we are all proud of her hard work and achievements, but we can’t see her ever retiring,” she smiled.
Sandra, now 58, took over the business in 1994 after her father died of cancer, aged 62.
Having worked in the shop after school and in holidays, she knew how the business operated but added gifts to the offering, drawing on her flair for decoration and interiors.
She renovated the shop, then at Hartfield Street, in 1998, before moving to the High Street as The Flower Shop London House in 2008.
In 2017, in response to changes in the way customers were shopping, she moved the business to the garden centre on Morangie Road, ironically also formerly owned by her father and brother, David.
“It’s been her life, really. She grew up working in the shop and literally slept in flower boxes, as have I, my sister, Laura, and my son, Mason, at various times,” added Lianne.
“Her heart is in it, which is probably the key thing. She feels privileged to be part of the community she grew up in and she’s taught my sister and I a lot of skills. She’s an inspiration.”
In what has turned out to be a dual celebration, young local entrepreneur Laura Ross, who manages the garden centre, also marked her ten year anniversary at the premises on Morangie Road.
