Flair Magazine
Flowers are one of the best ways to show your love and appreciation for someone. But bouquets of flowers have become somewhat of a cliché. The solution? Opt for the non-traditional and equally mesmerizing “Box of Roses”
As a true fan of flowers as a gift of appreciation, Mariam Omar, along with her now-husband, Mohamed Hashem, saw an opportunity in the Egyptian market for a business that she personally cherishes. The result was the launch of their business Box of Roses which has garnered huge success despite only being launched a few years ago. If you haven’t heard about Box of Roses, then you’ve been missing out. Located in Heliopolis, you should consider purchasing your next notably elegant gift for your loved one (or yourself!) at their store.
“The process of buying flowers used to be rather traditional. You would go to a flower shop, look at the options and decide what type you want to buy. Then this trend emerged worldwide of sending boxes of roses, with a certain color and a pretty design. This trend, combined with our inspiration by one of Faten Hamama’s old black and white movies, was our door into the market,” Mariam explained.
Describing her greatest challenges, Mariam explains the difficulty of taking the decision and risk of selling a non-essential or luxury product and adding value to it, considering the country’s economic condition. “The fact that the box can be re-used in itself adds value to the gift. It’s not a simple bouquet where the flowers die and you throw away the wrap. It’s more special than that. You pick a box of your choice, whether wooden or plastic, and you add a candle or card.”
Apart from the boxes, the quality of the roses is their top priority. They make it their business to keep them alive for as long as possible. “Instead of decorating our shop with pretty flowers that customers could look at, we put all our roses in the fridge until someone comes to pick them up, so they could survive more than they normally would if left outside, exceeding the time range of only two or three days at best.”
Mariam also comments that the flower industry is not fully appreciated, and that most people buy flowers out of duty, not because they really want to. “One of our boxes doesn’t have a window to show the flowers for that reason. Some guys don’t want to walk around looking like they actually bought flowers for someone so these boxes are meant to look like any other regular gift!” she explained.
By Sarah Guirguis
