Mother and daughter to launch 24/7 flower vending machine in Telford town centre
Duo from Telford are hoping new facility at town's shopping centre will be the first of many new launches as they aim to shake up the way people buy flowers
A mother and daughter from Shropshire are launching a new venture which they hope will change the way people buy flowers.
Kim Sagar, 56, and her 27-year-old daughter Sophie Christlow are preparing to install a new vending machine at Telford Centre which will sell flowers 24 hours a day and customers will not need to order ahead.
The new machine is set to be unveiled outside the entrance next to McDonald's from October 3 and could be the first of several launches in the area.
Kim, from Wellington, recently left a full-time corporate career in sales in the catering industry to set up the new company called SK Blooms and is working with wholesalers to source the flowers.
She said: "They will be big, beautiful bouquets with a water bubble underneath. It will be a mix of all different bouquets and price points and we will change things seasonally so might include chocolates, cosmetics for Mother's Day and teddy bears at Valentine's.
"It is a really new concept and I am so excited about it. I came up with the idea about ten months ago and did loads of research and found that these machines are really popular in other countries but no so much here.
"They are very new to the UK and our supplier only has a small handful in London and Scotland but nothing in between. We are looking for good-quality flowers which we will turn into bouquets and then stock the machine.
"We just thought ‘what a great way to access them outside the normal working hours when the florist or the supermarket is closed’ - you can still get access to flowers and make somebody's day.
"We really want to work with local people so the flowers in our machines can be locally sourced and grown."
The vending machine has cost around £20,000 and been supplied by a Polish company called QuickVend Europe.
It is refrigerated and has a capacity for up to six bouquets, with Kim and Sophie able to monitor trading activity via a dedicated mobile app.
This will give the duo insights into the types of bouquets which are most popular and those that sell less well along with typical purchase times and flagging up when the machine needs to be restocked.
Kim, who is also renovating a property to be an Airbnb let in Wenlock Edge, says the new business is enabling her to express her creative side, having been a fan of cake decorating and icing.
"I love flowers and I think they bring joy to everybody whether it's birthdays, Christmas or just because." she added.
Looking ahead, Kim and Sophie, who works as a business consultant and lives in Telford, are already planning more installations in the coming months.
"We really wanted our first one to be in Telford because we both live here but this isn't going to standstill as a single machine so, once we have the first up and running, we can add to it.
"We want to take this business a long way and are already looking at other locations in Wolverhampton and Shrewsbury. We would be able to service those three and the idea after that is to scale it up.
"I absolutely want to get into all of the big cities but that means working on a different business model as we wouldn't be able to service those machines so the question is how would we do that?"
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