Hill’s Florist still blooming after 80 years

When Percy Hill was a child he had polio, so his father built him a greenhouse so he had something to do. From there, the love of growing flowers blossomed in the family.

That zest for gardening led to him and his wife, Madeline, opening Hill’s Florist in 1946. Now, 80 years later the business is still run by family and has no signs of slowing down.

The business was originally based in Aurora, but after moving to Lindsay, Hill’s Florist was located in the lobby of the Academy Theatre for a few years. Finally, in 1951 the florists planted the shop’s roots in its current location on Lindsay Street.

At the time the couple also lived on the property. They had to build the greenhouses, and they turned their one car garage into the flower shop.

After Percy died, his son Roger stepped in to help out as Madeline couldn’t run the business by herself. Roger had graduated university with a degree in biochemistry, something that he said many wouldn’t realize is important to running a flower business. While Roger became more involved in the business, his future wife, Debbie, applied and ended up getting a job at the store.

Now, Roger and Debbie’s daughter, Sarah Oldale is the manager of purchases and sales at the store. “It’s always taken two people. When my grandfather was still alive, he managed the greenhouses, and my grandmother managed the flower shop,” she said. Now Oldale runs the store side of things and, at 75, Roger is still managing the greenhouses.

Oldale is also the one who helps with events, like weddings. “The things I enjoy doing are the big events. That’s where I get to be a lot more creative.” For her, flowers serve an array of purposes, and that’s what makes them special. “Flowers are about beauty. They’re about love. They’re about grief.”

While Roger has been known to be the personality behind the business, both he and Oldale agree without Debbie, the business would not be what it is today. “I would credit my mom with the longevity of this business. We would not be here 80 years were it not for my mom’s 45-year contribution to this place. She’s really the business mind behind it, and the workforce behind it,” Oldale said.

Throughout the years there have been a lot of changes in the flower industry. “The biggest thing we face is the box stores. Flowers are ubiquitous now, they’re absolutely everywhere,” Oldale said.

Alongside flowers, Hill’s also grows some vegetables and herbs in the greenhouses. They also are responsible for the planter boxes that appear along Kent Steet in the summer. Roger has to customize the plants so they’re suitable for the fluctuating sun and shade that happens during the day.

Throughout the years, they’ve found that a lot of people don’t realize how much time and effort has to go into maintaining a garden. “People just do not have the time to garden. We saw a resurgence of it during COVID because people were not spending their money or time elsewhere, they were investing back in their backyards,” said Oldale.

Now they’re next focus is on this summer. With many choosing not to go away to the U.S. during the summer like in previous years, Oldale thinks there may be another boost in people looking to garden this summer.

She’s also found that people have the misconception that working in a flower shop is something people do when they retire. However, it’s actually a very physical job with lots of heavy lifting and bending over. Oldale had to have carpal tunnel surgery a few years ago as her hands became almost unusable after years of gardening.

Being a small business, family members have had to make big sacrifices to ensure the shop can stay open. When Oldale’s older brother died, it was during the Christmas season. “I was here running this flower shop, making sure that Christmas happened for all these other families, while my parents and brother were around his hospital bed in Ottawa with him when he died.”

“People go about the rest of their lives, and you’ll never know what someone is sacrificing in their own personal life,” Oldale said.

Oldale hopes the community knows that they appreciate all the support the business has received for the last 80 years. “For the people who keep coming out every year and who recognize that we’re different and that they see the difference in what we do and what we grow and how knowledgeable we are, I appreciate that so much. That has kept us going.”