Roses Florist

A Great Barr shop that opened in September 2004 and describes itself, pointedly, as a real bricks-and-mortar florist. It is run by Becky Smith, who has spent more than thirty years in the trade, in shops and as a floristry lecturer in further education — which is why the answer to an awkward request here tends to be a question back rather than a shrug.

What to come here for

The everyday work is the whole spread: birthdays and anniversaries, christenings, new babies, new homes, congratulations, get-well, thank-you and sorry. Because the shop keeps cut flowers, plants and foliage on the floor rather than only made-up gifts, it also serves the person who wants to buy stems and arrange them at home — increasingly rare on a suburban parade.

Weddings are the owner’s declared favourite, and the reason is telling: no two briefs repeat, so the work never settles into a house style. Bouquets, buttonholes, church and venue flowers, contemporary or traditional, and for bridesmaids the older novelty forms — wands, fans and bible flowers — that most shops no longer make. Delivery and set-up at the venue is included across the West Midlands, along with vases, mirror tiles, lights and confetti for the tables, so the couple is not sourcing table dressing separately. Consultations are by appointment.

Funeral tributes are the other side of the same skill: bespoke work, however unusual the request, alongside the standard letters, sheaves, sprays and wreaths — something a shop only offers when someone on the bench can actually build it.

Delivery and urgency

The cut-off is noon for same-day delivery, which is earlier than most and worth knowing before you plan your morning. Deliveries go out six days a week in the shop’s own vehicle across Birmingham, Sutton Coldfield and Walsall, which means the driver answers to the shop rather than to a courier app.

Collection is the fast lane: customers describe ringing up and having an order ready to pick up within the half-hour when the situation demanded it. Photographs of the finished order are sent on request, and orders going beyond the local area are forwarded to a florist there rather than driven — so for work by this shop, stay inside its own delivery ring. Sunday is a closed day except for the Sundays in December and for Mothering Sunday, when the shop opens specially.

Highlights

• A qualified owner, not just an experienced one. A Higher Diploma in Floristry and a Certificate in Education behind the counter.
• Its own delivery vehicle. No third-party courier between the bench and the door.
• Loose stems, plants and foliage. You can buy the materials, not only the finished bouquet.
• Subscriptions that are actually bouquets. Weekly, fortnightly or monthly, hand-made and hand-delivered — explicitly not letterbox flowers.
• Trade bodies, named. A member of the British Florist Association and listed in The Good Florist Guide.

Where the flowers come from

No market, auction or grower is named. The shop says only that vase life is what it competes on — a claim worth testing rather than repeating.

The shop, the service and what else they do

This is a small suburban shop with a proper shop floor, and the point of coming in person is that the stock is visible: buckets of cut flowers, foliage on the side, plants and gifts, and someone to tell you what will hold up in a warm room and what will not.

The subscription is the sleeper product: weekly, fortnightly or monthly, a fresh hand-tied made each time and driven round — a different proposition from boxed stems arriving flat through a letterbox, and the sensible answer for a parent or grandparent you cannot visit often.

When to come and how to get there

The shop is in Great Barr in the north of the city, a few minutes from Kingstanding and Perry Barr and close to the parkland on the Walsall side, with Sutton Coldfield an easy run out. For the northern suburbs it is a great deal closer than the city centre.

The pressure points are the usual ones — Valentine’s Day, Mothering Sunday, Christmas — plus the wedding season from late spring into early autumn. December is the month the shop breaks its own pattern and opens on Sundays; Mothering Sunday is the single busiest day of the year and the one date when the noon cut-off is best treated as fiction. Book ahead and you get a choice; walk in on the day and you get what is left.

Questions and answers

Will they deliver today?

Yes, if the order is placed before noon and the address is local. That is an earlier cut-off than many Birmingham shops, so do not assume the afternoon.

Can I collect an order instead?

Yes, and in a genuine emergency it is the quickest route — customers report orders made up and ready within the half-hour after a phone call.

Can I see it before it is delivered?

Ask for a photograph of the finished order; the shop sends them on request, which is the practical check when you are ordering from elsewhere.

Do they make unusual funeral tributes?

Yes — bespoke work is offered however unusual the design. In that situation ring rather than order online, and say when and where the flowers need to be.

What is the flower subscription actually like?

A hand-made bouquet, weekly, fortnightly or monthly, delivered locally by the shop. You set the first date at checkout and later deliveries follow the chosen rhythm.

How do I know the flowers are fresh?

We repeat no freshness guarantee on the shop’s behalf. It is an open shop floor, so look at the buckets and at the outer petals yourself, and ask what came in that morning — the answer will tell you plenty.

Opening hours