SPRAGUE — Experienced florist and Griswold resident Michelle Jetté-Pendleton decided after being in the business for the better part of two decades, it was finally time to own her own shop.
“I had my daughter in 2019, and while I was out on maternity leave with my daughter, I thought it was now or never,” Jetté-Pendleton said.
Jetté-Pendleton opened Everly After Floral on Monday in Baltic, behind the Stockhouse building at 26 S. Bushnell Hollow Road. The store, like other florists, will sell both flowers and locally made gifts and food.
“I want to have unique flowers, unique gifts,” Jetté-Pendleton said. “Give people a reason to drive over to Baltic.”
Jetté-Pendleton said the name of the store comes from her young daughter’s name, as Jetté-Pendleton and her husband tried three times to have a child.
“She’s our happily ever after,” Jetté-Pendleton said.
![A portrait of Everly Pendleton by Baby B Mine Photography of Griswold at Everly After Floral that just opened Monday in the Stockhouse Building behind the Baltic Fire Department. [John Shishmanian/ NorwichBulletin.com]](https://www.gannett-cdn.com/presto/2021/01/11/NTBU/0f6138f5-8066-4d1e-b78c-98d173221669-5.jpg?crop=1999,1125,x0,y0)
Beyond her daughter being a motivating factor, Jetté-Pendleton believed it’s a good time to start the business because “there’s nowhere to go but up.”
“Flowers make people happy, and right now, there’s a lot of support for small business, especially women-owned,” Jetté-Pendleton said.
With this said, the pandemic is still posing a challenge for Jetté-Pendleton, who had been out of the floral business for almost two years, as the pandemic has changed how she orders flowers.
“Prices are obviously elevated, and quantities, because a lot of farms didn’t make it through the pandemic, so supply and demand has been a little more difficult that previous years,” Jetté-Pendleton said.
![Kale for sale at Everly After Floral that opened Monday in the Stockhouse Building behind the Baltic Fire Department. [John Shishmanian/ NorwichBulletin.com]](https://www.gannett-cdn.com/presto/2021/01/11/NTBU/dc394923-3083-4663-bf27-8d58da1bc216-7.jpg?crop=1999,1125,x0,y0)
However, Jetté-Pendleton also has some help. Uncasville resident Melinda Campagna a longtime friend and colleague of Jetté-Pendleton’s, is helping out with the shop. They met back when they both worked at McKenna’s Flower Shop in Norwich.
“If she needs me to do anything, I’m her girl,” Campagna said.
Despite Jetté-Pendleton having been out of the business for some time, Campagna said, Jetté-Pendleton was able to pick up where she left off.
“It’s something that’s just in you,” Campagna said. “You’re an artist, or you’re not.”
![Bread from Cambera Farm Bakery in Columbia for sale at Everly After Floral that opened Monday in the Stockhouse Building behind the Baltic Fire Department. [John Shishmanian/ NorwichBulletin.com]](https://www.gannett-cdn.com/presto/2021/01/11/NTBU/8ff28058-9d8a-4990-a08d-371aa4e7a5a7-6.jpg?crop=1999,1125,x0,y835)
One of the local vendors Jetté-Pendleton is working with is Heather Ferreira, the owner of the Whisktopia Bakery, an operation she runs out of her own home kitchen in Uncasville. Ferreira came to Everly After on Monday and said it was the first time she was in Baltic. Ferreira also believes Everly After will also be a reason for people to come to the town.
“It’s nice to get a new audience, and that she’s helping other local businesses out,” Ferreira said.
![Everly After Floral opened Monday in the Stockhouse Building behind the Baltic Fire Department. [John Shishmanian/ NorwichBulletin.com]](https://www.gannett-cdn.com/presto/2021/01/11/NTBU/346534a8-a8cb-4ca2-a524-a8a9e7fc54ef-3.jpg?crop=1999,1125,x0,y233)
January 12, 2021 at 02:25AM
https://www.norwichbulletin.com/story/news/2021/01/11/new-flower-shop-gives-people-reason-drive-over-baltic-connecticut-everly-after-florist/6623551002/
It’s Happy 'Everly After' for new Baltic flower shop - Norwich Bulletin
https://news.google.com/search?q=Flower&hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US:en
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