The Flower & The B

The Flower and The B is the new MORAL AUTHORITY on the Market Hall block. The have posted signs outside of their business on public meters. The Messages: Do not sit here in a car that is running and do not tie up your dog here.
The best is the huge long description of the owners dog and how you cannot touch, talk or come near.
Take the signs DOWN! Or move to a secluded spot where no one can walk by!!!

Delightful shop! Beautiful selection, happy ol’ doggie napping out front, charming staff. Come here for unique and lovely arrangements! :)

This is a lesson on how to lose a potential customer… I was having a fairly pleasant morning walk out until I happened to walk past this business on my way to the produce market. As I approached the Flower & The B, my initial thought was «Oh! I just went to another business to purchase flowers this weekend, I should stop by here next time.» Well, that thought quickly left my mind as I got closer and was told by someone in the shop «Sometimes dogs like to pee on my flower buckets.» My immediate response was «my dog won’t do that» (because I have enough sense to not let that happen, I thought to myself. Her response was «well, don’t let the dog get too close to my flowers.» Insulted and humiliated, I immediately changed my mind about ever supporting this business. I am a landscape designer and horticultural enthusiast who recently moved to Rockridge and rarely run into people this rude here. Word to the wise: If you don’t want dogs using their natural instincts to sniff you lovely flowers, maybe you should locate your business away from a highly used pedestrian area. Or just put a nice sign up politely asking people not to let their dogs sniff the flowers. That’s Business 101…
Edited 1÷15÷16
(Reviewer named) Jay — That you would defend her behavior says a lot about you Jay, and your own «sense of entitlement». Your experience was different than mine — so write your own review based on your experience, instead of attacking me for writing about mine. It’s easy to hide behind Unilocal and write an angry response to someone who you have never had a face to face interaction with.
To the owner Brian — Thank you for your response. I appreciate it and have changed my rating from one star to 3 because of it. Maybe I will stop by some day…
Ps.

This place makes the most beautiful wreaths in the east bay. I’ve been coming here the past 3 years to buy mine and it never disappoints. And if don’t see any you like, you can ask Brian, the owner, to custom make one for you. It helps if you have something in mind to show him.
Wreaths aside, this place also makes beautiful bouquets and arrangements. The flowers here actually smells wonderful! Sure, it cost more than something you can buy at Trader Joe’s or Safeway but the flowers here will last 2+ weeks. Where Trader Joe’s and Safeway flowers will last 3 – 5 days. Five days, if I’m lucky but it’s never the case. So yes, I’m willing to spend a bit more for the quality.
These were the wreaths that were in the shop today. Beautiful, aren’t they? Gives me ideas for next year’s wreath.

The Flower and the B is a beautiful bucket style flower shop tucked into the Rockridge Market. I have only had positive experiences here. They have a gorgeous floral display and really care about making you happy as a customer. It’s probable that what others may interpret as brusque, I see as efficient, professional communication regarding the flowers and arrangements they deal with day in and day out. All they need is a few details about color, style, and occasion, and they will deliver!

I have been here on numerous occasions and every time I end up with a fabulous flower arrangement. The flowers are absolutely gorgeous, and the staff is wonderful at helping me decide what to get. Love their choices!

I just ordered two bouquets and asked for rush delivery. The flowers came fast and are beautiful
I just read other reviews. I want to add the person on the phone was helpful and courteous and got the job done well

Post script — received a voicemail from the owner regarding issue. I appreciated the response. I would give more stars if the staff were warmer individuals. I don’t expect everyone to be outgoing, but if you working in customer service you really need to check yourself and put on that friendly face.
Still, kudos to Brian for the apology and explanation. Based on the Unilocal reviews, I wasn’t expecting one.
And as I said before, the bouquets they arranged were gorgeous.

Brian and his flowers are amazing! He was totally accommodating and my arrangement was perfect. Flowers were totally fresh and lasted a long time. I will be back for sure.

Quick summary: don’t ruin your special day or event by stopping by this shop to buy flowers. I went here to buy flowers for my wife on our anniversary and found one of the rudest people in Rockridge I have ever met.
First, the woman made me feel bad for not liking the initial bouquet she assembled while we were selecting flowers (I get to have an opinion, right?).
Then, when I inquired about the age of her dog (laying on the sidewalk unleashed in the middle of the shop), she chewed me out by saying, «…look at the chalkboard… If I answered every question about the dog, I’d never get any work done!»
Then after she went over my budget and I asked her to pull one of the flower types out, she tried to overcharge me and argued with me about the price.
There are A LOT of great small businesses to support in Rockridge. This is not one of them.

Honestly, I don’t recall anyone who works here being particularly rude as others suggest in some of these reviews. I do however experience a beautiful bouquet of fresh flowers that last a long time smelling great every time. I really don’t need a sales associate to coddle me and stroke my ego. I know what I want and what I’m going to pay for, it’s pretty simple.

If you are looking for the ultimate worst customer service experience, The Flower & The B is the perfect florist for you. Come to the Flower & The B to be hovered over, condescended to, and admonished for touching the flowers. Standing behind someone and saying «Be gentle to our flowers» puts an immediate stop to the sale. I will gladly take my business to another florist that doesn’t employ creepy, surly, unhappy people — and one who offers fresh, not wilting and picked over, flowers.
I miss Bloomie’s, the florist that previously resided at Market Hall. The rich customer service experience Bloomies provided, and the beautiful assortment of flowers they purveyed, make working with The Flower & The B that much more miserable.

So 3 young ethnic doctors go to this flower shop mid-​day for one of our mothers and when inquiring about the prices the florist started out by asking how much we wanted to spend. I suggested let’s see what we can get for 30 and she started subtly rolling her eyes and pointing some flowers. Another one of us pointed out that some of the flowers were welting and not fresh, which got her all defensive and passive aggressive. As we contributed ideas to what might look nice she began to tell the obvious purchaser among us, «oh no I’ll stop offering suggesting because he’s offering suggestions». I told, «Can’t all of us help our friend consider other options», which her only sassy rebuttal was that she didn’t want to interfere, which was bullshit because she was clearly a controlling, defensive, rude ass florist. My friend wanted the flowers so we persisted. She continued to throw shade our way on this otherwise sunny day by: 1) suggesting we don’t have knowledge of flowers (at least one of us did), 2) assuming that we probably couldn’t afford other selections, and 3) some fierce eye-​rolling and subtle huffing and puffing. We still got some overpriced flowers for my friend’s mama and she got this bad, but honest Unilocal review.

At first glance it may not be the cheapest place in the neighborhood to get flowers but it is by far the best value! The selection and the quality of the flowers plus the service are amazing.
I recently bought a small bouquet for my wife and it lasted for more than 3 weeks! I’ve never had any luck getting flowers to last for more than a week from any other place.

Avoid this florist at all costs!
This review definitely isn’t about the quality of the flowers, which are beautiful, fresh, and perfect, sitting (or propped) in magnificent displays all around this place. No, the flowers are aboslutely splendid. But the attitude and demeanor of the staff here – from the tight-​lipped woman who assisted us to a man whose rude, head honcho demeanor made me think he might even be the owner – is seriously deplorable. My boyfriend wanted to get a bouquet for his mom and I casually suggested this spot, recalling how their flowers are always bright and lively. But from the initial interaction with the woman who assisted us (she was incredibly short and when my boyfriend didn’t know exactly what he wanted aside from tuberose, she scoffed instead of offering her own creative and design insight… Which is kinda the point of a damn florist and the reason we didn’t just go to the backyard and tug up some daisies), there was clearly a problem. Several times, another man who worked here (who I thought was the owner) literally bumped into me and practically knocked me down in his haste as he rushed through the tiny cubicle of space. Um, bro, it’s a foggy morning and there’s literally no one here other than us… Don’t you think you could leave the running around until after we leave so you could have space to actually do it? Or how about a simple «excuse me» so we don’t leave here telling all our friends that you are the worst florist imaginable? These folks need a crash course in customer service, and judging by these other reviews, I’m not the only one who thinks so.

YIKES!
1. My mother called to order flowers for delivery on my birthday (Friday), they did not deliver on my birthday… they…
2. Didn’t bother calling, despite having my number, so I was forced to awkwardly text back my (upset) mother saying that no I hadn’t gotten any surprise deliveries
3. My mother had to call and complain on Saturday morning to produce an excuse of «sorry, we were really swamped yesterday and didn’t get to it» — then why, might I ask, would you accept a time-​sensitive birthday order you couldn’t fulfill?
4. When the flowers arrived a full day late, I had a *tiny* bouquet with 3 daisies, one unique cabbage-​looking flower, and some beat-​up baby roses that looked wilted/​damaged at the tops. A handful of unbloomed flowers were also put in the bouquet with a bit of filler. Jaw dropper? When I sent a photo for my mother, she became irate, because she had spent $ 80! on the bouquet. I could have assembled it for $ 15 or less at Trader Joe’s, though likely missing the quirky cabbage flower.
5. Upon my mother’s complaint they promised to bring a replacement immediately. INSTEAD THEY RETURNED AND DEMANDED TO HAVE THE BOUQUET BACK WITHOUT PROVIDING A REPLACEMENT. (We surrendered it to the extremely rude delivery girl.) 36 hours later they have not called me or my mother regarding the status of the replacement or a refund.
Terrible customer service through-​and-​through, grossly overpriced, and still don’t have a nice birthday bouquet. I feel the worst about how traumatized my mother is about the experience since she put in a lot of effort to find a ‘good’ florist 2,500 miles away and make a specific, time-​sensitive order. Needless to say, I think she misses Patrick & The Meadows being a block away more than I do…

Initially I wrote a review and deleted
it after the owner reached out about my «harsh» judgment on his flower shop. He extended the offer of a free bouquet to make up for my (and my husbands) lack of satisfaction on our small, over priced bouquet… comparing his flower shop to be unlike trader joes and named off another cheap place you can buy flowers… we are great patrons of local flower shops in my area… I’m fully aware that it wouldn’t be priced like trader joes lol.
We had breakfast in the area and our next stop was market hall… my son was fussy and we were trying to multi task so my husband who initially bought the flowers decided to redeem his offer while I was finishing up with our grocery list.
The owner was totally rude and said he would only redeem his offer with me present. This guy sounded like a compete jerk, after my husband told me how weird the experience was I figured it was better to warn off paying this man any business just for a measly flower bouquet.
I highly recommended the beautiful flower pop up at grand fare coffee shop, wow… half of what this place charges with much nicer flowers and tasteful people with social skills putting together the arrangements.

We had the Flower & the B do the bouquets for my wedding, and they turned out beautifully! I gave them fairly loose parameters (colors and general style, but no specifics on flower varieties), but they did a great job in making that vague vision into something better than I could have asked for.

The lady that works here is highly commendable for excellent customer service. Also this place deserves mention that they stay open later than most shops. Parking can be tough.
I make sure to patronize small biz and this one is excellent.

I had such an amazing experience working with the owner Brian.
I’m a photographer that works with kids and I wanted an amazing Winter Wonderland set for my sessions.
Brian came through in spades. He created a beautiful space that blew everyone away. The kids loved and the parents did too!
He installed onsite and was on time, every time. The price was reasonable and he the product was amazing.
I will definitely be back!