Flowers and chocolates --
they go together like Bogie and Bacall, like yin and yang,
like salt and pepper, like . . . well, you get the idea.
They're a great combination.
From the day she bought her chocolate shop in 1997, Judite
Holder was struck by the number of people, mostly men, who
bought chocolates and then asked for directions to the nearest
flower shop.
Or they'd ask if I could put flowers with their chocolate
order," she says. "I would buy flowers and put
them together. One day it hit me: I need to own a flower
shop, too."
It took a few years and a lot of work, but this fall Holder,
52, realized that dream. A year after purchasing the venerable
Gammage Flowers shop, she moved her Chocolaterie Bernard
Callebaut shop right next door at Oxford and Waterloo streets.
Together they are a one-stop shop for romantics and apologetic
partners alike.
Holder owns both businesses, but she is partners with her
daughter, Claudia DaSilva- Ivanisevic.
The plan is for her to manage the chocolate shop and me
to manage the flower shop. And if one of us was busy, we
would cover for each other."
Implementation of the plan has been delayed slightly because
DaSilva-Ivanisevic gave birth to her daughter, Maia, in
May, a first grandchild for Holder and her husband, Ed.
The family connection at the two businesses is especially
apropos because Holder's initial decision to buy the chocolate
shop was a response to a family tragedy. In 1996, the couple's
14-year-old son, Bruno, died in a car accident. After several
months of struggling to do much of anything, Holder was
convinced that buying a business and throwing herself into
it might be the best form of therapy.
"I was scared," she recalls. "I had never
run a business, but I decided to give it a try."
The loss never goes away, but the pain dulls over time and
Holder credits the store and her customers for helping her
get through a very dark period in her life.
Once she decided to expand into flowers, she went in search
of an established flower shop. There's no more established
a shop than Gammage, with a heritage that dates back almost
140 years. Sarah Geddes left a nursing career to buy the
business more than a decade ago, and she was only the third
owner of the shop.
"I approached her a few years ago and she wasn't ready
to retire, but when she decided to retire, I was very happy
to buy the business. It's a wonderful shop with a very rich
history," Holder says.
It took some doing, but Holder was also able to buy the
building around the corner, a matching yellow brick structure
built at the same time as the flower shop. After a thorough
renovation, the space was transformed from hair salon to
chocolate shop. Besides the proximity to Gammage, the most
exciting thing about the new location for Holder is the
free parking.
Parking was always an issue when I was downtown. People
would tell me they circled around and then just left. It
was frustrating," she says
"At this location, we have plenty of free parking,
and people really appreciate that."
Free parking and business -- a combination almost as natural
as flowers and chocolates, Romeo and Juliet, fish and chips
. . . .
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