Professionals Tamborine Mountain 
Even during tumultuous times such as these, triumph can bloom from beneath the soil of adversity like a flower. Natasha Hardy has only owned Butler + Grace on Tamborine Mountain for a short while, having made the switch due to the changing market of COVID times, but already she finds herself flourishing anew. Find out more within – by Kyle Hitchmough
Can you explain what it is you offer?
We are a gift store that offers dried florals. A DIY floral bar, which includes dried florals, preserved florals, arrangements, workshops, we do table hire, we’re also doing gifting. Again, it’s all about celebrating around the table and gifting to others.
How did you come to open this store?
I’m an event producer, so I’ve been in the events industry for eighteen years. Due to COVID, I’ve done the pivot to opening up a retail store that focuses on the smaller events in your life. The gifting, the birthdays, the weddings, the smaller, more intimate events.
What is your most popular product? Is it the dried flowers?
At the moment, yes, which is purely due to the restrictions on events in private homes and larger events in other establishments. With the constant changing of dates, people are hesitant to book anything unless it’s an intimate event where it’s only four or five. Anything beyond that… They could book for a wedding for 30 on Saturday and tomorrow the government could turn around and say, “it’s all canned”. There’s a lot of expense that goes into those type of events. The flowers are definitely a big hit and that’s because dried flowers have a lifespan of up to five years and preserved up to fifteen. A lot of brides are starting to convert, because if their dates do change, they still have the flowers. Fresh flowers the florist will order a couple of days beforehand, and that’s a fixed cost whether the wedding goes ahead or not, and then they last up to maybe five days post-wedding.
You mentioned you offer workshops?
Yes, we do floral workshops. We’ve got a series of them coming up. We provide everybody with a designer vase. The workshops are facilitated by an award-winning interior designer and stylist, she guides people on a one-to-one basis on how to create and deliver their arrangements, and then they get to take them home.
You also said you hire out. What does that entail?
We do tableware hire for all events. Any event around the table, it doesn’t need to be a wedding, it can be a gathering of friends, lunchtime, you just want to up the ante on your table and put some coloured linen on there… We do it per piece, minimum spend is only $25 and you’re not committing to bundles or sets of crockery or cutlery, it’s a mix and match system because it is per piece. It is a three-day hire.
I’ve never heard the term ‘tablescaping’ before. Is that common in the industry?
It is within the industry! Tablescape means to landscape your table. So that is putting all the pretty things on, your candleware, your linen, your floral arrangements… just making the table look attractive.
Do you find you have a particularly common kind of clientele?
Not really… I would say that a good 70% are women, but there is still a lot of men that come through. It’s been all age groups, I’ve had teens that have come through and bought flowers or gifts for their mum, I’ve had people buy gifts for their friends, I’ve had a lot of people buy floral arrangements, but I wouldn’t say there was a specific age trend or demographic.
Are you a local? What’s your opinion on the Tamborine Mountain area and community?
Yes, I am. It’s a good close-knit community. I’ve been here for four years, though I’ve only really gotten to know the locals in the last nine weeks since opening the business. I had a lot of local support here as well. It’s a great community.
What do you think Butler + Grace primarily brings to the area?
It brings a bit of upmarket-ness. There are some old-school retailers up here, and not a lot of luxury gift stores. Now you don’t have to go off the mountain if you want a nice notebook or a nice card. We provide a lot of Australian-brand businesses in store: as an example, all our stationary is from Letter Press Studios. We look at the quality of the items, they’re not mass produced, which means they’re exclusive to our store in this area. If you want something similar, you’re going to have to go down to Robina or up to Brisbane.
What do you enjoy most about doing this?
The people interaction and the styling. From an events background, I’m creative, I create concepts and styling for events. This gives me that outlet where I can create in the floral arrangements and the tablescaping.
Is there anything else you’d like to go on the record?
We’re just about to expand our gift-giving line for Christmas and lined up a couple more small Australian businesses—some from Queensland, some from Sydney. We’ll start stocking a lot more of those in the gift-giving side. For Christmas, we should see gift boxes start going out.
We are always looking for new topics for our blog. If there’s something you like to see more of, email your suggestions to: social@professionalsserendipity.com.au
Or email the writer at kyle.hitchmough@hotmail.com, and follow me on Twitter @realcasualrvws.
