Shirley Tullos-Thurman started Rowlett Florist with her sister 54 years ago and says they’re absorbing the tariff costs for now, but may be forced to raise prices.
GARLAND, Texas — This year marks Shirley Tullos-Thurman’s 54th Mother’s Day running Rowlett Florist, a business she started alongside her sister with a modest investment of $100 each.
Decades later, she’s still bringing beautiful flowers into arrangements for all of life’s milestones.
“I love people, and to get the feedback, we feel like that we’re helping,” Tullos-Thurman shared. “We have funerals. We have weddings. We have babies. We have proms, and it’s a fun time most of the time, and then the other times, we want to be there for the sympathy and the condolences.”
Ahead of this Mother’s Day, though, she received her first bill from the tariffs imposed by President Trump.
“It was a smaller one,” Tullos-Thurman explained. “It was only 5% of the orders, but at Mother’s Day, the orders are pretty, you know, large, so 5% adds to it. We probably won’t do a whole lot extra for that, but if it goes higher, we’ll have to add to it. But also, we have freight and all the other things that’s associated now that’s going up, so we have to go up on our flowers too.”
Tullos-Thurman is fighting to keep prices low for her customers, many of whom have shopped and supported Rowlett Florist for decades.
“I hate to do it, but I try to explain it to everybody that in order to stay in business, we also have to go up,” she sighed. “I know I have other business friends that it’s really hurting them to have to add all these prices to customers they’ve had all these years, but we have to in order to stay in business.”
WFAA spoke with Ryan Hanus, who was buying flowers for his wife, Molly, who is celebrating her first Mother’s Day.
“She’s probably just the strongest woman that I know,” Hanus smiled. “This isn’t quite, you know, the Mother’s Day we had envisioned just starting out, but I just want it to be as special for her as possible.”
Hanus told WFAA he comes from a small town, so he finds it important to support local businesses.
“I could get flowers from Walmart or Kroger or whatever, but I figured I would support the local florist,” he said.
The shop is bustling and filled with vibrant flowers from South America, Mexico, and even Canada, according to Tullos-Thurman. There are countless orders being prepped for delivery to celebrate moms this weekend, and for that, Tullos-Thurman said she’s blessed. No matter what tariff structure is in place, her attitude is to “take it as it comes and go with it.”
If you’d like to visit Rowlett Florist, they are located at 513 W. State St. in Garland. You can also call the store at (972)-276-9800.