How many reasons can you name that someone may gift a floral arrangement to another person? At Paducah Flower Company, whether it be an anniversary, birthday, get well, valentines, thank you, new baby, wedding, sympathy, or just to make someone smile, they will customize any floral arrangement or gift basket that sends your perfect message. Founders and owners of what’s grown into three floral shops, Jennifer Rukavina Bidwell and Jeff Bidwell, are honored to help our community members in any event, be it sympathy or celebration.
Jennifer shared her long-time admiration for flowers and plants, “As a teenager, my first job was at a plant nursery, and I spent several years working there through college. I did a lot of outdoor potting design, and I really enjoyed working with plants.”
After choosing a different career path in meteorology, later in life, she was given another chance to follow her true calling in the floral industry. Jeff and Jennifer’s relationship with the local floral wholesaler blossomed into Jennifer training with a florist on the Ft. Campbell Army base. Not long after, they had the opportunity to purchase Jeannettes floral business in Mayfield as the previous owners planned to retire. Jeff and Jennifer jumped on the opportunity and opened Jeannettes Mayfield Flower Company in November 2019.
With aspirations to open a floral company in Paducah as well, they were able to purchase the Culligan Water building. With the help of some silent backers, you’ll now recognize that same building on Lone Oak Road as the Paducah Flower Company.
As they held their grand opening in early 2020, the pandemic was right behind them, threatening to stop their plan to build the business. During this time, they decided to take advantage of their partnership with Teleflora, the world’s largest florist network, with over 16,000 member flower shops worldwide. This allows anyone from anywhere, whether across town or across the globe, to support local floral shops and ensure floral arrangements are hand-delivered to loved ones.
Although the pandemic prevented them from opening their doors for a few weeks, Teleflora orders were coming in at an overwhelming pace. They were busy creating arrangements and filling orders for people who could no longer visit loved ones in person due to travel restrictions or hospital and nursing home restrictions. This allowed their business to grow and flourish even during a widespread shutdown. In July 2020, the couple opened their third location, The Murray Flower Company.
The Paducah Flower Company loves giving back to the community that has supported them so loyally since their opening. They recently participated in Vue Magazine’s “Real Men Wear Pink” campaign, in which many clients joined in by adding pink ribbons to their arrangements for a donation to the cancer society. Jennifer also hopes to continue fundraising events with local organizations and schools.
Jennifer shares, “We just really enjoy working with people, and that’s so important when running a local business. People want to be taken care of and helped through difficult times such as funerals. The teams we have at each store really take a lot of pride in customer service.”
You may visit the Paducah Flower Company at 2975 Lone Oak Road Monday through Friday 9 am – 5 pm and Saturdays 9 am – 3 pm. You can also browse their website, thepaducahflowercompany.com, or give them a call at 270-554-1005.
