Soto (Image: CHS)

The holiday season is typically a bustling one for Flowers on 15th — one centered around custom floral wreaths, festive centerpieces, and sprawling flower displays.

This year looks different for the flower boutique, as owner Alex Soto makes contactless deliveries and preps curbside pickup orders inside the shop’s small space, now filled to the brim with greenery.

“Christmas is our most joyous time that we offer our most crafty things,” Soto said. “This pandemic has cut everything down.”

Soto, who previously worked for over a decade as a wholesale flower broker, has run the shop for 30 years alongside life partner Caroline Morton. They officially named it Flowers on 15th in 2002, although it was a flower shop beforehand.

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(Image: CHS)

Since closing for in-store retail in line with pandemic guidelines, a steady customer base has kept the shop afloat — ordering for themselves as well as offering some assistance processing and delivering other orders.

“They’re so patient and so loyal and so understanding of what we have and what we don’t have,” he said. “The biggest response we get from our customers is ‘you do what you want to do.’ ”

Even so, Soto says sales are down by 70%, largely as a result of not being able to cater arrangements to large-scale events or gatherings or have walk-in customers. He also says the entire supply chain, from growers to wholesalers, has slowed down as a result of the pandemic, making it challenging to obtain the desired product.

Flowers on 15th is nestled in between a row of 15th Ave eateries and other shops adjusting to the pandemic era, including longtime framing shop Capitol Hill Museum Quality Framing. Manager Cheryl Swent sees the survival of businesses on the block as mutually beneficial for drawing customers into the area.

“I really love how they set up flowers and different things outside their shop, it just really makes our little block a lot happier,” she said.

For Soto, the effects of the pandemic and subsequent restrictions have made the neighborhood feel more destitute and less shopper-friendly, with temporary and permanent closures like the recent shuttering of the Take 2 consignment shop.

“We went from one of the most premiere neighborhoods,” he said, “to being one of the most boarded neighborhoods in the city.”

As owner of Flowers on 15th, Soto has also focused much of his attention on organizing twice a week meal deliveries to families in Nickelsville tiny house homeless shelters through a partnership with Beacon Hill Filipino restaurant Musang Seattle.

“We really feel as long as we support our customers or our society, we’ll be supported too,” he said.

Flowers on 15th is located at 515 15th Ave E. You can learn more at flowerson15th.com.

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