We caught up with Faye and Scott, owners of Float Balloons and Gifts to talk about the business, zoom parties and COVID.
Shopping locally brings about a sense of community
How did Float Balloons and Gifts get started?
Scott and I decided we wanted to spend our days smiling and laughing whilst we worked and this led us to creating FLOAT – our happy place, that we love sharing with our customers.
We are a small family owned and operated Gift and balloon boutique. We pride ourselves in stocking beautiful quality products and are committed to celebrating local Australian suppliers and designers. We love working with our customers to create memorable gifts and events.
What does shopping local mean to you?
Shopping locally brings about a sense of community. Our aim was to create a shop where everyone feels comfortable to just come and spend time browsing and having a chat. Located in Willsmere Village we are very blessed to be surrounded by so many wonderful shops and their staff. Having lived in the country where everyone knows your name, the village provides this same sense of community with people popping their head in the door just to say hello and offer local support.
Who are your favourite local businesses?
This is a hard one to pick, but we would have to go with Simply Stylish Dog groomers – they have always provided us with fabulous service looking after our fur babies and have also supported our business from the very first day. Great service and awesome staff.
Having lived in the country where everyone knows your name, the Willsmere Village provides this same sense of community with people popping their head in the door just to say hello and offer local support.
How has COVID changed Float Balloons and Gifts?
During the covid lock down, I won’t lie it was tough and lots of tears were shed, however it forced us to continue to develop our business. We are currently working on an online store to increase our customer reach. During the lockdown we seemed to be changing every week, trying to come up with new ideas to generate income to pay our rent. Our best idea was supporting customers to host zoom parties, our favourite during this time was a gender reveal party for a wonderful family in Kew.
What are you most looking forward to in life in 2021?
We are looking forward to being able to see all the friendly faces of our customers once again and continue to grow our business and services we provide.
Click below if you want to learn more about Float Balloons and Gifts and their range of products.