Photo by Justin Criado

A sample of the items at the newly opened floral shop, The Farmer’s Daughter, on East Ohio Street in Historic Deutschtown.

By Justin Criado

Lauren Phillips can hardly contain her excitement when she talks about all the locally grown and handmade products in her new shop in Historic Deutschtown.

The Farmer’s Daughter on 431 East Ohio St. is a floral shop with a comfortable atmosphere, and while the main focus is flowers, the shop features items that are botanically-inspired like mirrors, jewelry and toiletries.

“Ever since I can remember I wanted to have my own business,” Phillips, 30, said during the store’s soft-opening Friday, May 8. “It was just working out what kind of business.”

Originally from Uniontown in Fayette County, Phillips grew up on a family farm where they would grow their own vegetables and maintain a large garden full of various types of flowers.

After graduating from Duquesne University, she moved to Brooklyn, New York where she worked at well-known boutique and plant nursery, Zuzu’s Petals, for eight years. A country girl at heart, Phillips knew Western Pa. was where she belonged, which led her back two years ago as a freelancer before finally securing a store-front location with the help of the Northside Leadership Conference.

“In Brooklyn when I started to do floral design, I knew I wanted to do something myself,” Phillips said. “I moved back here and freelanced for a while doing flowers and I fortunately got busy with my own weddings so I started doing weddings on my own and I wanted to grow and have a retail location.”

Now completely renovated, Phillips’ floral store offers event services for just about anything that can use a flower, and she also delivers within a five-mile radius. Phillips said she tries to grow about 30 percent of the stores flowers on her own.

With one part-time employee for now, Phillips relies on friends who she met while freelancing to round out her creative team.

“We do it all. Anything where people want a flower, we do it,” Phillips said. “It’s a bunch of girls that do my event work with me. They’re people that I met along the way and we’ve become really good friends.”

Phillips said Barbara Burns, owner of Sweet Time café next door and president of Historic Deutschtown Development Corp, helped her find the space, and added she couldn’t feel more at home.

“It’s perfect. Everyone’s been beyond nice and helpful. I’m just excited to be a part of a community, too,” Phillips said. “It’s weird because I thought I’d feel different about it, but it feels like I’ve always been here. It’s just how it should be. I’m so excited.”

Official store summer hours are Wednesday-Friday 11 a.m.-7p.m. and Saturday 10 a.m.-3 p.m.

For more information about the shop and its services visit the official website.

Photo by Justin Criado

The Farmer’s Daughter owner Lauren Phillips explained that she always wanted to open her own business, and can now combine her passion for flowers with her new store.