Cortez locals Kinsey Ertel and Donnie Tanner have purchased The Flower Cottage, a florist shop that has had deep roots in the Cortez community since the 1960s. Owning The Flower Cottage, at 30 N. Market St., has been something Ertel and Tanner have wanted to do for five or six years, with ownership becoming official on July 15.
This marks a new chapter for the flower shop, with Ertel and Tanner making plans to revamp the inside of the cottage, add new varieties of plants and strengthen the website. Ertel expressed her excitement to decorate the cottage, sharing that she has a love for interior design.
Ertel, who previously worked for Ertel Funeral Home, and Tanner are both fourth-generation Cortez residents who are keeping The Flower Cottage in the family.
The shop was founded by Dick Lindsay, the stepbrother of Ertel’s grandfather Walt Ertel. Ertel said the stone section of the cottage dates back to 1928 and is where her great-grandfather, who founded Ertel Funeral Home, once lived. The addition to the cottage was added not long after The Flower Cottage opened its doors.
Lindsay will turn 100 later this month, and previously operated the business with his son and daughter-in-law Grant and Tammy Lindsay.
When Grant and Tammy Lindsay started talking about retiring, Ertel realized it was the perfect time to finally purchase the cottage.
“My husband (Tanner) and I got to talking and said, ‘Well, maybe now is the right time for us to see if we can make a deal work for us to buy the business from Tammy and Grant.’ And sure enough, it did,” Ertel said.
Ertel and Tanner became official owners on Grant Lindsay’s 70th birthday.
“I don’t believe in coincidences,” Ertel said. “It is all pretty neat.”
Ertel shared childhood memories that involve The Flower Cottage, saying it feels like home.
“I just remember being a little kid. We’d be over at the funeral home and we'd run across the driveway, come over and hop into the flower cottage and see what was going on,” Ertel said. “Then all the years at the funeral home, we were over here all the time telling Grant when funerals were and ordering flowers for families. This place truly feels like home.”
The Flower Cottage will maintain its traditional and well-loved services while also expanding what it offers to the community. They hope to grow floral services for weddings, introduce specialty and rare plants and add some unique gift items.
“There are nice little shops here in Cortez. We just want to add to the opportunity for a unique gift from right here in Cortez,” Ertel said.
They are also planning to launch an e-commerce platform, which will allow for online orders. Patrons of the cottage will be able to opt into automated reminders for special occasions like anniversaries and birthdays, as well as storing reminders of favorite flowers, favorite colors and more. The new website is currently in the works, as well as a new logo that features Ertel’s pet cow, Fiona.
“Donnie and I honed in on this at the funeral home – to the best of our ability, we want to serve people and give them what they want with quality,” Ertel said. “If we can make it happen, we want to be able to do so. He and I are very good at thinking outside of the box.”
Ertel added that they want to know what the community hopes to see at the shop, from high schoolers with school dances and more.
“We’re just trying to make sure that we're in tune with what the community sees as important and valuable with flowers,” Ertel said.
The business will also continue its longstanding relationship with the Ertel Funeral Home, no longer owned by the Ertel family, to provide flowers for services. Operating hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday and 9 a.m. to noon Saturday, with flexibility for customer needs.
bduran@the-journal.com
