Coxcomb, antique red hydrangea, purple, overgrown kale heads — even chili peppers on a stem — you can find a lot of things at Frenchie’s Floral Studio. Just don’t expect red roses.
“I think people have been so used to this concept in Juneau that every arrangement you get has carnations, chrysanthemum, baby’s breath and roses in it,” Frenchie’s co-owner Jeremy Bauer said during a recent interview at the Federal Flats business. “It just became, ‘No, let’s make it hard. Let’s go out there and try to find something that no one has ever seen before.’”
Six months in and after an unexpected hiatus, the studio is starting to make its mark. Owners Bauer and Jason Clifton, both partners at their interior design firm Bauer/Clifton Interiors, have always admired what flowers can do for an interior, but they weren’t in love with Juneau’s selection.
So about a year ago the pair started plans for Frenchie’s. Bauer and Clifton own the building and Frenchie’s is part of an entire lifestyle campus they designed after purchasing the old Blockbuster Video property on the corner of West 12th Street and Glacier Avenue. Customers can get a massage next door and will soon be able to shop for home decor at a business on the other side of the building.
They hope to make shopping for flowers a routine part of life in the Federal Flats: get a massage, go to the grocery store and purchase flowers. Life could get worse.
“The original intent was to become that neighborhood flower shop,” Clifton said. “It doesn’t necessarily need to be a special occasion to purchase or send flowers, it really is just about picking the kids up from school and stopping by Frenchie’s and picking up some flowers.”
Bauer and Clifton want their arrangements to have a sense of deliberation and seasonality. The flower vessels come in “modern, romantic, whimsical and rustic” looks. The pair appointed the business’s interior, scraping the internet for exactly what they wanted. Basically every arrangement is the designer’s choice, and no two are exactly alike.
“We don’t bring just typical flowers in. We’re really trying to search out unique blooms that are a little more rare, a little harder to get here,” Bauer said. “We’re really trying to do something different, we don’t want to do anything that’s already being done.”
In April, a creative driving force for the business, a florist there since the beginning, past away, hobbling the business. Bauer and Clifton took a few months to gather themselves before rebuilding the Frenchie’s team and re-opening the shop.
They’re now open full time from 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday-Friday and 10 a.m.-2 p.m. on Saturdays.
• Contact reporter Kevin Gullufsen at 523-2228 or kevin.gullufsen@juneauempire.com.
Erika Fagerstrom, left, and Sara Tiberio work on a mini flower bouquet at Frenchie’s Floral Studio located at the corner of Glacier Avenue and 12th Street on Tuesday, Sept. 12, 2017. (Michael Penn | Juneau Empire)
