Early Grey

Flower shop moves to a new location on Picton Main Street

After about a year in their location at the east end of Main Street in Picton, Early Grey moved to a more central storefront two weeks ago. Owner Marilou Perron has been a florist since about 2016 after completing a Fine Arts degree and working at a government job for a while. “I was looking for a career where I could be creative and work with my hands, and I knew a few people who were florists and I thought that’s a good way to be creative and work with beautiful products,” she said. Ms. Perron moved to the County in 2018, and started her florist business at a studio in the Sophiasburgh Food Hub. She mostly catered to weddings and events, and in 2023 she moved to her first location on Main Street in Picton. During the growing season, she sources as many flowers as she can from local Prince Edward County farmers, with additional materials from a flower collective in Mississauga. In the colder seasons she gets her flowers from importers with whom she’s built a relationship. “We try to go with locally grown, which are more organic But with imports we try to pick varieties that we are familiar with and we know a little bit more about where they come from,” she said.

Ms. Perron said that her first location on Main Street was a great spot, but she felt she had outgrown it. “When this space came up we decided to move and we have a lot more space here, with more room to work and more room for storage,” she said. In addition to flower services, Ms. Perron offers a range of gift items. “I wanted to have a gift store as well so that it’s a bit more accessible for people walking around, especially tourists in the summer. They might not want to bring home a bouquet of flowers, so we have a selection of retail goods like stationery, candles and jewellery. And plants; we have lots of plants. We try to carry things that are made in Canada or come from women-owned companies,” she said. She added that one of the challenges to running a business in the County is the seasonal aspect of it. “There are less sales in the winter months. Luckily, we have the flower portion that keeps us going throughout the year.” She chose Early Grey as the name of her store because it’s the name of one of the rose varieties that she first worked with. “And I really loved the colour of the rose, and the name always kind of stuck in my head.”

Although it has only been two weeks, she is pleased with the move to her new location. “It’s just so nice to see everyone waking by and peeking their heads in. We’ve had regulars come in to see the new space, and my friends from other local businesses are coming in too, which is really nice. I’m very happy and proud of our new location and it feels like a step up that we’re here,” she said. Early Grey is located at 184 Main Street in Picton. Please visit earlygrey.ca for more information.