Meet Lisa Giddens of Coopers Florist in Hurst

So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
Born a Dallas girl. Raised in Pleasant Grove with my sister. We lived a sheltered life, went to St Phillips Catholic School through 5th grade. My parents decided to move to the HEB area so off we went the summer of 78. So excited to go to public school and wear some regular clothes.

Was very involved in dance; my favorite was Ballet. Oh how I so loved Ballet and dance, loved, loved, loved it, like most little girls I wanted to be a Ballerina. I loved school and junior high was so much fun. Very involved in everything I could, I’ve always been a go getter so off I went. I played flute in band, in marching band, and was head majorette. I was in Choir and then show choir and then I began ballet with Ft Worth City Ballet Company, I was a busy girl. My mother and father were very talented and musically inclined so my sister and I came by it naturally. I was very involved in our church as well and my mother was always doing something with her designing for church, friends, weddings, and us kids. I grew up watching her make the most beautiful flowers for everyone and of course we had flowers for every occasion like dance recitals, school functions, banquets prom, you name it. Oh, how time fly’s by and I was off to Trinity High School and was allowed to continue Ballet and receive credit for my dance. Then I decided to go to cosmetology school so I could make some money, and teach ballet. I met my first husband and got married and had a beautiful baby girl named Destiney. She is my first true love. Life had begun with making a wonderful family. I think this was not what The Lord had planned for me as I would soon face some very unfortunate times in an abusive marriage and realized my self-worth did not deserve this nor did my baby so I filed for divorce and moved in with my parents.

Now being faced with raising a baby and being a single mommy, working three jobs to make it, thank God for my parents and all their love and support. Then my life took a turn for the worse as I got involved with some partying friends and started doing speed and had some challenges to face. God’s grace and mercy and love so saved my life and I got clean and sober and never looked back. With needing to make a good living, I decided to finally see if I could follow in my mother’s footsteps and design. I called her up and went by her flower shop and said mom do you think I can do this? As always she’s so supportive and said yes, “you can fake it till you make it”.  So I started calling every flower shop in the phone book, yes phone book, until this one shop took the bait.  It just so happened, the lady knew my mom and I had a job at Rembrandt Florist in Colleyville. God then placed the most handsome wonderful man in my life and two years later we had a bouncing baby boy. Now, 22 years later and still in love with my best friend, I have one grandchild to love on. After a couple of years at Rembrandt, I needed more of a challenge having self-taught with coaching from mom. I reached out to The FMI company and they had a designer opening in the Dallas market at Seasons Florist.

Sheri Garland, the owner, hired me and I soon became her Dallas manager and had a wonderful 12 years with her. With so many high profile funerals I got to be creative while working for her. We did the funeral for Mary Kay and Dimebag Darrell from the band Pantera just to mention a few. She is one of the best I know in this industry and she has designed for our past presidents and is a fabulous lady and a very talented designer. I truly am so very grateful for all the training and knowledge I received from her. I have learned the company and business end from her and how to be a very successful manager and to be the best at building your team up to achieve excellence. I then was very blessed with another amazing opportunity to work with yet another one of the industry’s very talented designer and artist, director of Signature Productions owner Ed Barrett . He had been featured on Platinum Weddings.

This wonderful lifelong friend has taught me so much about the industry and people and the wedding end of the floral business. He is one of the best leaders I’ve come to know and I soaked up all the information I could from this fabulous man. After 25 years in the industry and having moved on to Bice’s Florist as their wedding and event coordinator for five years my phone rang one day. My husband and I had the opportunity to buy Flowers of Las Colinas from Barbara and Bill Ferris. What a blessing we were so excited! We went through the summer doing business plans had the backing but for some reason God did not open this door. We decided maybe it’s a blessing so I prayed about it and asked The Lord what he wanted us to do next. Three weeks later my phone rang again it was Tim Harton from Cooper’s Florist asking “when y’all gonna buy this flower shop from us?”.  I had lunch with him the next week and it was on. Tim had been wanting to sell the shop for a while and retire to start traveling.

So we had a plan to go through a transition period working while getting to know their customers. Cooper’s has been in business since 1958 and we would grow the wedding and special event side of things. We can’t wait to own Cooper’s and carry on this family business and start a legacy for our children to carry on. I’m truly blessed to have my beautiful and very talented daughter Destiney working side by side with me and I’m so proud of her and all she had brought to the table for us and the company. This industry is always changing and you have to keep up with new trends and techniques or you will be left behind. Customers and Brides expect perfection and a good product as well as 5-star customer service. You also have to advise your customers and train them as well. Information is king. We take great pride and care of each order and our customers know that they are getting a one of a kind creation from us when they call. We are very blessed to have such a great customer base and following here at Cooper’s.

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I did struggle with life a bit.  We are all either going through a storm or coming out of the storm. I would not change a thing for the hardships and challenges made me a strong woman. I am very determined to make sure I would be successful. I am happy for what I do for work. God uses us in so many ways. I get to help people with their chapters in life, some happy some sad times. Marriages, babies, birthdays and loss of loved ones and it is my special gift to take care of our families.

Coopers Florist – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
Coopers florist since 1958, has been a staple in our community. We are a boutique style flower shop with a secret garden in back. We specialize in the artful design of flowers, weddings of all budgets, funerals and everyday occasions. Our customer services and designs set us apart as we treat our customers like we want to be treated.

What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
Honestly seeing my daughter work beside me and soaking up all she can and how much of an incredible designer she had become. She is such a wonderful soul and mommy to our granddaughter and she also lives with and takes care of my 92-year-old father who has been an iron man since my mother passed.