Flower shop runs 24-hours a day all year long

By Isobel Williams

Welcome to what the owners believe is the world’s only 24-hour drive-through flower shop - open 365 days a year.

Flower Station in Marylebone, central London, was originally a petrol station before a florist decided to transform it into a drive-through style flower shop.

After years of success, the business decided to remain open for all hours of the day for 365 days a year - including holidays such as Christmas and Easter.

Since extending their hours the store has been flooded with last-minute shoppers buying for baby showers, gender reveals, proposals, birthdays, and even break-ups.

The company have also joined Deliveroo, so panicked buyers don’t have to leave their homes to get flowers for any occasion.

Sophia Ioannou, PA to director David Cohen, says she believes they are the only 24-hour florist in London, and may even be the only one in the world.

The employee of over two years said: “It was a bit of a logistical challenge closing at night since a lot of the space is outdoors. There were storage issues and security issues, so we decided to try being open 24 hours to allow us to go crazy with the displays.

“He went for it, and it just took off. We get orders from Deliveroo all through the night. It has been really popular.

“The hardest part was finding florists who wanted to work through the night, but there was availability for it.

“David always says that people thought he was crazy and couldn’t understand why he would do it. It is a really key part of our business now.

“We can’t find any other florists offering the same around the world, so we like to coin ourselves as London’s only, and maybe the world’s only, 24-hour drive-through florist.”

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Sophia says that they have received lots of strange requests over the years, with someone once specifically requesting 350 roses, which employees struggled to carry to the customers’ car.

Another story involved a last minute groom, suited and booted, visiting the store in search for a bespoke Boutonniere- on his wedding day.

There have also been lots of scandalous break-ups which have led to emergency apology bouquets.

The busiest day of the year seems to be Valentines Day, with lots of panicked partners coming to get gifts at the last second.

Sophia added: “It is quite fun to see all the reasons why people order flowers at 2am. We have had rendezvous, romantic reasons, breakups, hospital visits, last minute birthdays.

“We get a lot of late commuters passing through. During the night the most common customers are gentlemen having dates or needing last-minute apology bouquets.

“We get crazy stories where people have broken up or some juicy gossip has happened, and they have flung by to the flower shop to try and get an apology bouquet.

“We have had people ask crazy questions like ‘can I buy all your roses?’ and as much as possible we try to accommodate.”

The employee says that they also sell Christmas trees and wreaths, with some customers picking theirs up as late as Christmas Eve.

This month, the business is celebrating their 24th birthday of selling flowers from all across the world including Kenya, Ecuador and Holland.

Sophia added: “It is never too late with us, we are constantly letting people off the hook.

“In this world at the moment people are less organised and more impulsive, so we feel that we really support that market.”