Today we’d like to introduce you to Sabina Gerard.
Hi Sabina, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
After completing my MBA in 2018, while initially working in retail management, I dreamed of owning my own business. I wanted to experience the entire challenging, thrilling and sometimes frightening process of identifying the right business, learning and mastering new skills and establishing relationships with financial institutions and the City of Monterey to obtain funding and all necessary business permits and licenses.
In 2022, The Flower Market on Fremont was listed for sale. I reasoned that owning a flower shop would certainly offer the creative outlet I desired, while also providing both the personal challenge of owning and managing a novel business and the opportunity to support other local small businesses, artisans and artists.
I began the mentoring and purchasing process in February of 2025 and after a grueling 6 months I took possession and was the new owner of The Flower Market on Fremont St.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
The funding process was a real learning curve…not really a struggle, just nothing for which I had any previous point of reference.
However, it certainly helped me establish those business and networking relationships with the Monterey County Bank and the Central Coast (SBDC) Small Business District Center!
A challenge of taking over a legacy shop is establishing relationships with customers who have been coming since childhood. While challenging at times, it has been a privilege to earn their trust.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I have immensely enjoyed getting to know so many regular customers, as well as people who have discovered the shop for the first time. It is really heartwarming to see how many people find joy in bringing or sending the beauty of flowers to brighten someone’s day, and often it is the sender’s own day being brightened.
I specialize in providing personalized service, whatever the occasion. What sets The Flower Market apart is that every arrangement or bouquet is a custom creation, based on listening to my customers’ vision and desires.
I particularly enjoy helping customers memorialize their loved ones who have passed on by creating arrangements that reflect what that person’s passions and joys were in life. We have started a branch of “Petals with Purpose’ which repurposes centerpieces and delivers them to local senior homes on the Peninsula to give the flowers another opportunity to provide joy and also to reduce waste.
I am proud to support individual artists, having commissioned a mixed media artist to recreate the iconic photograph of Jimi Hendrix taken in front of the shop during the first Monterey Pop Festival in 1967, and another student artist from Otis College of Design to paint a new sign for the front of the building. I am currently working on obtaining a permit from the city with the hope of having a mural painted on the side of my building.
Another of my passions is animal welfare and rescue, and The Flower Market is home to a rescued neighborhood tabby cat, JimiJovi. He would love to meet you!
Any big plans?
As I am writing this, The Flower Market is undergoing renovation! We are having new walls, ceiling and flooring installed. Down the road, I envision The Flower Market offering a community space, perhaps providing space for local women’s group meetings, and partnering with local native plant enthusiasts to provide education and workshops as well as providing display space for the work of local artists.
Outside on The Flower Market property, a native pollinator demonstration garden is planned to showcase how even small patches of recovered urban space can foster much needed biodiversity within the city.
Lastly, I am planning a way to honor Jimi Hendrix’ legacy by joining ‘Guitars United’, a group that helps connect students with music. Art can change the world, and I want this Flower Market to be a reflection of that belief.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://flowermartmonterey.com
- Instagram: @flowermarketmonterey
