Lara Debroux, owner of Fiori Flowers, first experienced the various colors and patterns involved in floral arrangements while working in the flower department at Alfalfa’s Market, the local Boulder grocery store started by her father.
In 2008, Lara bought Fiori Flowers and moved locations from Spruce St. to Broadway. More recently, on October 1, she opened at 1833 Pearl St., right in between Mateo and Twig Hair Salon.
Not only does Fiori Flowers’ newest space come with more foot traffic on Boulder’s acclaimed shopping mall street, it also boasts a more open layout, as opposed to the Broadway location’s long and skinny store. Because Fiori Flowers now has less space in the back, customers can watch staff process flowers and sort arrangements from most anywhere in the store, which itself is lined with neat vases filled with roses, wildflowers and seasonal blooms—all sorted by color.
Lara attended college in Santa Barbara, California for photography. When she moved home to Boulder after graduating, she didn’t feel particularly inspired by photography and started working at Fiori Flowers. Though Lara now enjoys photographing colorful bouquets for the store’s Instagram, Kelsey Huffer from Poppy & Co. photography takes images for the website.
“It’s relatable to photography in terms of color and texture,” Lara says about flower arranging. As compared to her college major, putting together bouquets at Fiori Flowers allows Lara to appreciate the business side of her creativity more as an entrepreneur. She also gets to work with a team every day, as opposed to photographing subjects alone, and interact with her store’s customers every day.
Lara’s vision for Fiori Flowers is to create something unique, out of the ordinary, that you wouldn’t see everyday. “I started putting my hands on flowers in a grocery store, but Fiori’s style is the opposite of that,” Lara says of her honed craft. She strives to make every arrangement unique and out-of-the-box.
Today, Lara enjoys playing with any and every color, texture, shape and size she can get her hands on, while still keeping bouquets relatable and affordable for every occasion, from baby showers to weddings and graduations.
Lara keeps her flowers competitively priced at market value, though she’s at the mercy of local growers and their costs. Though local farmers’ botanics tend to run pricier because of their smaller scale operations, Lara is happy to support regional agriculture whenever possible. She also sources from all over the world through a supplier in Denver.
With autumn’s return, and as the growing season slows down, so does the variety of seasonal flowers available to stores, though Fiori has an abundance of blooms stocked, even with the pandemic’s supply chain shortages.
Fiori Flowers offers a price range for classic arrangements, from bright, seasonal blooms to moody, deep-colored ones, or a classic rose bouquet. The shop also sells an assortment of bath and body products, like grounding oil, hand soap and face mist. Sign up for either the Flower of the Week Club or Flower of the Month Club to have seasonal blooms delivered to your doorstep.
As Thanksgiving approaches, Fiori Flowers pivots from creating designs with bright, summery hues and slips into more moody tones, like velvety caramel, burgundy and deep oranges. With the holiday season just around the corner, the shop also prepares to decorate Boulderites’ homes with garland and wreaths, which they do every season.
Starting in early December, Fiori Flowers will offer wreath making classes to start getting everyone into the holiday spirit while decorating their homes. The flower shop also offers private wreath arranging classes, complete with a Cured cheese board and wine, which makes the perfect gift for a loved one.
FioriBoulder.com