Cheap Bouquets, Online Giants Push Cheyenne Florist To Close After 44 Years

Cheyenne’s Bouquets Unlimited is closing its doors after 44 years because it cannot compete with online giants and big-box stores. In 1992, there were 27,000 florist storefronts in America. Today, there are 11,750. Soon that number will drop by one more. “I’m broken-hearted about it,” owner Shareen Brendle told Cowboy State Daily. “But think about the hundreds of chain stores that buy in bulk. They have hundreds of stores, so they can get better deals than small stores.”

Brendle bought the shop from her mother in 2019, when her mother was showing early signs of dementia. “It was her only out for retirement,” Brendle said. Her mother passed away in 2022. Brendle had been helping at the family shop for 38 years and has watched independent florist shops dwindle. She made the difficult decision to close in June—one more independent florist succumbing to e-commerce and big-box price undercutting amid ever-tighter margins from rising fuel and other overhead costs. Oftentimes, Brendle has seen retail prices at big-box stores and supermarkets lower than her wholesale prices. “I just can’t do it anymore,” she said. “It’s just become tougher and tougher, and we’ve had to get tighter and tighter.”