The Violet Palm

The Violet Palm is a new shop on Watergate street. This “urban jungle” from the owners of the successful Flower Cup coffee shop (see https://thechesterblog.com/2016/11/25/the-flower-cup/) will offer houseplants, botanical wares, seasonal flowers and creative workshops. Our blogger Liz went along to the launch party to find out more.

On the 24th of July yet another exciting moment for the ever expanding Watergate Street is the new florist that will be opening on the rows. ‘The Violet Palm’ , the sister shop to a Chester favourite ‘The Flower Cup’ and will open right next door and is an expansion of the florist side of the business.

At the launch party I had the chance to meet the owners (Milli and Kris) and take a look around the store and admire all the beautiful plants -and locally produced treats and essentials for maintaining them!

Walking up to the store I was immediately caught by the pretty display outside with the A-board and gorgeous window display which had people walking past taking photos and looking inside to see what was inside. Once I went in I was greeted by Milli who is one half of ‘The Violet Palm’ and was happy to take a photo by the new feature wall. She spoke about how the floristry side of The Flower Cup has been growing the past year or so and that they needed the space to really be able to continue providing the service to the high standards the business has.

The launch has been 3 months in the making, and the idea behind it was to have different plants that you wouldn’t see in a standard faceless business and to make use of many local businesses such as a local provider of the plants. Part of that involves working with three different local artists who have the opportunity to have their pieces for sale in there. They have decided to launch with Matt (Taehoon ceramics) from Liverpool who now hand makes the ceramics for them, Aimee Mac from Manchester does the graphic prints that are available to buy in store and Claire Mosford who along with her sister hand makes the Macramé ceiling and wall hangings and lives locally to Chester. It’s really great to see local talent being given the opportunity to be seen and be available to purchase in a convenient and home grown business.

The other side of the business that will really start blooming (sorry I couldn’t resist!) are the bouquets as they now have to space to provide a delivery service and really focus on a lesser known side of the business which they are looking to relaunch, which is the wedding flowers. This is something they have always offered but has been tricky to manage, and now that they can use the space available you can now book in with a local company to get that bespoke service.

After having a chat with Milli I took a look around sipping on cocktails provided by the ever fantastic ‘Prohibition’ who are located on the opposite side of the road on Watergate Street and again certainly worth a visit to –I’d recommend asking them to make you the gin based cocktail that was available on the night!!

The shop itself is open plan, yet full of plants and flowers. It seems to be a good mix of plants to take home as well as bouquets and home pieces such as books and cushions to gift.