Inside stunning new Cherry Blossom combining floristry with coffee and cake in Sunderland neighbourhood
You can pick up bouquets, gifts, coffees and cakes at the new city business.
From tomorrow, a new business is set to bloom in Barnes.
Cherry Blossom opens its doors from 8am on Friday, June 19 and has already proved a talking point in the neighbourhood.
It’s been brought to the city by Sunderland couple Andy and Rhiannah Phillips who’ve taken over the former Cherry Blossom florists in Cleveland Road.
They’ve kept the name and the floristry side of the shop, keeping on one of the florists from the previous business - but everything else is a total transformation, down to a full rewire and plumbing.
The couple has spent the past five weeks stripping back the site to create a business that combines floristry with a cake and coffee offering as well as giftware.
A new decked area has also been created to make the most of the suntrap, as well as new customer toilets with baby change facilities.
Andy, who owns city business Brogans Scaffolding, said they’ve had a lot of interest from passersby.
“It’s a really nice neighbourhood and everyone has been really friendly,” said Andy. “It was Cherry Blossom florist for seven years and we think another florists before then. People seem really glad we’ve saved the floristry side and that we’re not turning it into something like another barbers.
“The landlord was also keen to keep a florist side to the business. When we fitted out the space, we wanted to create a neutral space where the flowers really popped.”
Rhiannah previously worked for Hays Travel, but was looking for something different after the couple had their son.
“We wanted to do something where we could be our own bosses,” she explained. “We were actually sat having breakfast about three months ago and spotted the unit on a Facebook selling page, we went to see it that day.
“It’s such a lovely spot, which gets the sun all day, and we knew there was something we could do with it.”
As the couple were working on the site, they unearthed lots of items from its past, including its time as Simpsons bakery and they’ll be decorating the new toilets with the reminders of yesteryear.
The florist side of the business includes bouquets, table decorations, loose flowers and dried flowers.
Giftware includes candles, vases, throws and more and they’re keen to work with other local businesses who’d like to stock their items in the shop.
Food options include traybakes and cakes with gluten-free, vegan and vegetarian versions available, with the drinks menu including coffee made using Tynemouth Coffee beans, matcha options and more.
*Cherry Blossom is open from 8am to 4pm Monday to Sunday and is dog-friendly.