Flowers, Fevers and Friendly Spaces: The Path to Hanson Road Flower Co.

From humble beginnings to blooming business, Riannon McVay’s Hanson Road Flower Co. is one of Downtown Fredericton’s most inspirational business success stories. Whether its overcoming exotic illnesses in Thailand or growing her business during the pandemic, McVay is no stranger to adversity. We recently sat down with Riannon to get the scoop on her journey of self-discovery, and how she built downtown Fredericton’s premiere women-led locally sourced boutique flower shop.  

Q: I hear you’ve had an intense journey up to this point. Can you take me through the events leading up to the founding of Hanson Road Flower Co.? 

“It is a bit of a crazy story, and I haven’t gotten better at abbreviating it, but I’ll try to keep it concise.  I’ve always loved flowers; I grew up picking flowers during the Summer with my mother and sister out on a little road in the middle of nowhere, but it never really connected that I could turn that passion into the focal point of my life. Then as I grew up, I studied urban planning and got burnt out working a ton of different 9-5 jobs. I knew that I needed a change, so I sold everything I owned, travelled for a while, and ultimately ended up working in Australia for three years. And that’s where everything kind of started to click.”   

During her time in Australia, Riannon rekindled her passion for petunias and studied floral design. With her eyes set on a flowery future, she embarked on one last adventure in Thailand. Unfortunately, her trip took a turn when she contracted Dengue fever and became seriously ill. Penniless and ailing, Riannon made her way back to Hanson Road in St Stephen before moving to Fredericton. 

“Fredericton was the cutest city nearby, so I moved and started saving all my tips to eventually start selling flowers at the market. My first Boyce Farmer’s Market was a complete failure, it was November, and my booth was outside. By 8am, all the water in my vases froze and my flowers wilted and shriveled. Luckily, I had enough flowers left at home that I could bring to the Northside market the next day and I ended up selling out completely. So, I went from being completely discouraged to this huge success the next day. I kept at it for three months going to the market on weekends and then the pandemic hit. The market closed and I started thinking maybe I just wouldn’t be able to make it as a florist forever. 

But then something Riannon couldn’t have predicted happened… 

“This whole plant culture exploded! Everyone was stuck at home and couldn’t visit their loved ones. And flowers are really good for your mental health and well-being. So, this weird positive outcome of the pandemic was that people started ordering flowers to have them delivered to their relatives or to fill their home office. I was working out of the spare room in my apartment, and I quickly realized I would need actual space to keep everything, so I finally made the decision to open a brick and mortar on Brunswick Street. The downtown area was so welcoming and then this whole community formed around this little shop, you know, people couldn’t visit family, but they could come talk with me and hangout with my dog. People stopped in just to chat and we built really strong relationships. 

The dedicated Hanson Road Flowers community, dubbed “roadies” by Riannon, has been instrumental in shaping the future of the business. When making the decision to move into a larger space on King Street, McVay knew that she wanted to continue fostering a welcoming communal space  

“Moving to King Street has been a blessing, we have this nice lounge space and we’ve been able to expand our offerings. People love our subscription and monthly bloombox services, it’s really a stress-free way of getting curated florals and products on a regular basis. And then apart from all our locally sourced florals we also carry almost entirely local products from female entrepreneurs and women-led businesses. Supporting local and especially supporting women in business is crucial to us. We’ve recently started doing wedding florals à la carte which allows nearlyweds to choose the products and colour palette they want without getting decision paralysis. People have been asking for wedding florals forever, but I knew that if we were going to do it, we needed to do it right, so we had to wait until we had more space for proper storage.” 

 Q: It’s an achievement in the downtown business community that you’ve been able to grow your business while adhering to these core values and maintaining quality. You’ve really cemented yourself within the area, and I was wondering how important the downtown community has been in your success? And what are some of your favourite places downtown? 

“The downtown community has been very welcoming; we are so fortunate to have built these strong relationships with businesses and people living in the downtown area. When we first opened, other business owners checked-in to give us pointers or to see if we needed anything. We love our neighbors, and everyone really supports each other. We tend to collaborate rather than compete, so we all learn from each other and share our successes and challenges. I need to give some shoutouts to 11^th mile and Moco, I used to work at Moco, and I love everyone there. Urban Almanac and Room to Remember I’m in there all the time. Then there’s Coffee and Friends and Milltown which are my go-to coffee spots. There are so many others I hope I’m not forgetting. Oh my gosh! LuluJo, Radical Edge, and the Ten Spot all favourites.” 

Q: You’ve definitely hit all the bases, we’ll wrap it up here. Thank you so much for making some time to chat with us! 

“It been an absolute pleasure, thanks so much for coming in!” 

Riannon and her team would love to assist you at Hanson Road Flower Co.! Be sure to drop by soon and check out their beautiful shop!

Hanson Road Flower Co. is located at 445 King St.

Find them online at: https://hansonroad.com/

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