Grand re-opening held for Front Porch Florist & Gifts

As a child Emma Barwick Smith sold items to her grandparents, the Rev. Paul and Betty Sue Rose of Mount Olive, in their living room — an early sign that she wanted to be a business owner, says her mother, Jennifer Barwick.

Friday morning, Aug. 3, Smith, surrounded by her children, Ella, 2, and Granger 5, her parents, Ronald and Jennifer Barwick, her grandparents, family, friends and others, cut a ribbon to celebrate the grand re-opening of Front Porch Florist & Gifts.

Smith and her parents now own the business originally owned by Dwayne Summerlin and Taylor Whitfield.

Whitfield posted on Facebook that he was interested in selling the business, Barwick said.

“We have known Taylor and Dwayne for years — they have been like family to us,” she said. “Our daughter has always been interested in owning something like this (a business), so we reached out to him. Within a month we decided this was a purchase we would like to make, and we bought it from Taylor.”

The store, located at 1035 N Breazeale Ave. in the Mt. Olive Centre shopping center, will be open Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. and Saturday from 8:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Barwick spoke about her family’s goal and vision for the business in making it a one-stop shop.

“So you can come in and buy a birthday present,” she continued. “You can buy a wedding present or a funeral item. We will provide flowers for your wedding. A goal is to get into wedding planning.

“We offer free gift wrapping; all kinds of flowers from corsages to funeral flowers, but we hope, like I said, for it to be a one-stop shop.”

If the shop does not have what a customer needs, they will be glad to get it, she added.

Barwick said the overall goal is to keep people in Mount Olive to shop.

“We want to make it easy for people to stop and shop to have those items wrapped,” she said.

Also, the plan is to keep the current staff that includes one full-time and five part-time employees. The staff, she added, is phenomenal.

Emma Smith will be full time while her parents, who already have full-time jobs, will be seen around the store, especially on holidays and on Saturdays.

“You will see Ronald delivering flowers,” Barwick said. “Our goal is that our face will be here, but Emma will be our point of contact here in the store.

“Of course our two grandchildren, Ella and Granger, they will be here as well.”

It has been a smooth transition, she said.

“We haven’t faced any challenges yet,” Barwick said. “Our goal is just to make sure that people recognize that we are here. We are changing the look a little bit. We are offering different items eventually that maybe Taylor didn’t offer maybe because he had a different vision than what we have.”

Also, everyone has been so kind, she added.

Preparing for the grand re-opening has been exciting, Barwick said.

“It has been exciting for us to offer this to Mount Olive,” she added. “We have been changing things around and cleaning. So, it has been a work in progress, but it has been a great challenge for us.”

It has been a dream come true to open the business because they are able to offer things they want to keep in town, Barwick said.

“We want Mount Olive to grow, and we want to be a part of that growth,” she continued. “We are excited for that.”

Barwick invites the public to come see them.

“We hope that when you come in you are blessed and that when you leave you are blessed,” she said. “That is what our vision is.”

Barwick added that her daughter had moved away, but is back.

“So I think coming home, this is like a homecoming for her,” she said.

Before the ribbon cutting, family, friends and supporters gathered in the store.

“We are so excited to have Front Porch Florist & Gifts as a Chamber member,” said Julie Beck, Mount Olive Area Chamber of Commerce president.

Beck called the event extra-special for her because she has been a member of the Rose family for many, many years.

“They are just great people,” she added. “I am excited about this new look that we have here, the new products they have. I am especially excited that we are still going to have a flower shop and gift store here in Mount Olive because when I first saw it was going on sale I thought, ‘oh no, we are not going to have this anymore.’

“I am so excited about Emma and her family stepping up and taking on this adventure. It is going to be a great adventure. We welcome you to the Mount Olive Chamber. We can’t say welcome to Mount Olive because you have been in Mount Olive your whole lives, but we are glad you are continuing your service.”

Chamber board member Ed Olive, director of the University of Mount Olive Lois G. Britt Agribusiness Center, said Beck had summed it up well.

“This is a beautiful place — you have done a lot of great work here,” he said. “I work at the university just around the corner, so we look forward to partnering with you.

“In fact, I told Dr. (Jennifer) Bradley (assistant professor of plant science), she couldn’t make it, but she teaches our floral design class. She is already brainstorming about what kind of partnerships we can have. Welcome to this strip and welcome to the business, and we look forward to many years of prosperous business.”

Amy Brogden, owner of Southern Ground Coffee Shop, welcomed her new neighbor.

“I am very excited to have them here and to work together, and we already have a lot of plans that we are going to do in the future,” Brogden said.

Scott Satterfield, Wayne County Chamber of Commerce president, thanked Beck for all she does in Mount Olive.

“We are just excited to see you guys step into this,” he said. “We, too, love to see these small independent local businesses stay intact and Mount Olive is the perfect place for it.

“I think you are going to get a lot of support, and I know you are going to get a lot of great support from Julie and the Mount Olive Chamber. We are here to help anyway that we can. We are just thankful for you (Beck), thankful for what you do for our chamber personally and in your other roles. You have meant a lot to our organization.”

In her comments before the ribbon cutting, Barwick said, “All of this just brings me to tears. We are so excited to be in Mount Olive, like Julie said, this is home for us. Everybody in this room has made this happen from every little step.

“As Julie said we have been together a long, long time. Emma started her desire to be a business owner — as mama posted on Facebook, a long time ago she used to sell stuff to mama and pawpaw in their living room.”

Barwick added, “She has always wanted to do this. We are here and are so excited to be here and continue this tradition. We are so excited to have our staff with us — words just can’t even express.”