PHOTO BY MEGHAN ERKKINEN

Rocio Preciado, left, and Courtney Rivera of Fife Flowers work to put together a wedding display. Fife Flowers is moving to a new location next month.

Fife Flowers to move to new location

By Meghan Erkkinen

Fife’s signature flower shop, Fife Flowers, will move to a new location next month after about a dozen years in its current location along Pacific Highway. The shop will move to a vacant space just four doors down from the Poodle Dog.

“It will make life a lot easier for the ladies who work here,” said owner Mike Seeger, who took over the store 12 years ago after a career in the U.S. Army. “We’re moving for many, many reasons,” he added.

The main reason for the move is space. The current space, which for a long time shared a building with the Blue Butterfly Salon and the German Deli, which have both recently moved or gone out of business, is about 1,000 square feet. The new location, at 1504 54th Ave. E., is about 1,800 square feet.

“It’ll be so much easier to find,” Seeger said. “Everyone knows where the Poodle Dog is.”

The larger space will allow for more efficiency and a larger refrigeration unit.

“We’ll also have a nice, empty palette and we’ll be able to paint our own picture,” Seeger added.

The new refrigeration unit will be almost twice the size of the old one at 10 feet by 20 feet. Seeger is enlisting the aid of several local businesses to help him piece together the parts of the refrigerator, and to help him prepare the new location.

Seeger said he hopes to continue his relationship with the community in his new location.

“We’ve built up loyal customers with our quality products and memorable moments,” Seeger said. “We have built up a pretty darn good (relationship).”

Most of his customers are area businesses, which purchase flowers for employees and customers.

“It’s amazing the different businesses that are flower users,” Seeger said. Fife Flowers also puts together arrangements for individuals, weddings, funerals and other special occasions. Seeger has a courier service that delivers from the Renton and Sea-Tac area down to DuPont and Ft. Lewis. He contracts with courier services to reach an even greater area.

The new location will allow Fife Flowers to serve its customers better, Seeger said.

“We have a good handle on what we do,” he said. “We want to increase productivity without increasing prices.”

The new location will allow flower designers to put together arrangements more quickly, and the new refrigeration unit, although it is larger, will be less costly to run as it is more efficient.

Seeger said he plans to continue his commitment to the community in his new location.

“The Fife-Milton-Edge-wood area, it’s family here,” Seeger said. “You take care of the neighborhood...We support the community because that’s where we get our strength from.”

Fife Flowers will move to its new location the first weekend of August. It is open weekdays from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Saturday 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. For more information on the business, visit its website at www.fifeflowers.com.

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