Flagstaff Featured Business: Budding Ideas & Paw Prints
(as published in the December 12 edition of The Community Press)
The Flagstaff Region Featured Business is a monthly newspaper and web feature presented in partnership by Flagstaff County and The Community Press.
Budding Ideas & Paw Prints
5008 50 St., Killam
780-385-3014
Hours of operation:
9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Tuesday to Friday
9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday
But there’s so much more in bloom at the Killam-based store run by the talented husband-and-wife team of Dan and Kathryn Fee. “We try to carry anything and everything that’s unique,” Dan says.
Indeed, the couple has carved out their own unique niche, with a diverse product selection not found anywhere else in the region.
“Obviously, we’re a flower shop,” Kathryn adds, noting that she takes great pride in staying on top of the latest trends for flowers and plants.
“We also carry neat little giftware, fashion, some teas, some personal care products, hard candies, chocolates, toys, and a little bit of home decor. We try to find things that are not interfering with anyone else’s in the area.”
Their toy selection, for instance, is decidedly nostalgic, which Dan says goes hand-in-hand with their storied building on Killam’s main street.
Budding Ideas and Paw Prints also stocks art supplies and offers museum-quality framing. “I pretty much frame anything and everything – posters, photographs, prints, hockey jerseys,” Dan says. “Anything can be put in a frame and if it means something to you, then it should be protected.”
The skilled frame-maker is also known for his emotion-evoking pen and ink drawings, which adorn the walls throughout the store.
One thing the business is not, however, is a pet store. Due to the Paw Prints moniker, people have mistaken the shop for such a “couple of times,” Dan admits with a shrug.
“We sell them something anyway and send them to the pet places that are in the area,” Kathryn adds with a laugh. “So that works well anyway.”
The Fees’ business is a shared labour of love that has served the area for more than a quarter century, 12 of those years in their present location.
Dan and Kathryn were both in their early 20s when they took the leap and opened their brand new venture on August 4, 1992.
“So right off the start, we wanted to let people know that we knew what we were doing,” Dan explains. “We wanted them to feel comfortable when they came in that they knew they could trust us with whatever they needed, whether it was my framing or if someone came in for wedding flowers, funeral orders or anything like that. So before we opened, we actively went out and got properly educated.”
Dan took two levels of framing courses and is a nationally certified picture framer.
Kathryn, meanwhile, completed floral design school, majored in botany in university, and worked for a stint at St. Albert-based Hole’s Greenhouses and Gardens.
“We wanted to make sure that because we were so young starting, we just didn’t want people to go, ‘Yeah, it would be nice to support the kids, but do they know what they’re doing?’” Kathryn adds. “We were worried no one would take us seriously.”
That can be one of the pitfalls of starting a business in a small community, Dan notes.
“There’s always the misconception if you’re in a small town, you’re not properly educated or you just decided to do it as a hobby kind of thing just because there was nothing else to do. And that’s not true,” he explains. “Everyone is competent that lives out here for lack of a better term. We’re properly trained. The guys at the tire shop, they’re properly trained. The restaurant staff, they’re properly trained. We’ve always said just because you’re in a small town doesn’t mean you’re small town.”
Whether or not they had their doubts in the beginning, customers near and far have certainly come to embrace Budding Ideas and Paw Prints.
Residents and other business owners, in general, have supported the Fees over the years.
“There’s a lot of people that are so willing to help out,” Kathryn says. “Businesses and other organizations, if you help them out and try to get yourself out there and do the best that you possibly can, I find that other businesses and other organizations are great at trying to make sure that they help you back.”
That small-town charm doesn’t go unnoticed. Kathryn says delivery drivers remark about how friendly the Flagstaff Region is. “When you talk to them, they’re like, ‘I love this route better than any place else. The people in this county are so friendly. They treat you like you’re people. They help you with stuff in the door. They help you find things when you’re lost and you’re not sure where somebody’s address is,’” Kathryn explains. “I think that’s a real testament to our community that we are generally pretty darn friendly.”
“Figure out what works, figure out what doesn’t work for you,” Kathryn advises.
“Talk to other small business owners and let them know who you are and what you’re trying to do.
“A lot of our business, and I’m sure (it’s the same for) a lot of other businesses, comes from other businesses in our area. If we don’t have it and we can send it to somebody else in town that we know has it, we make sure that we do that.
“And if we know no one in town has what they’re looking for, we try to help them find somebody in the county and we’ll hook them up. And I know a lot of other businesses do that.
“So I’d say: be flexible, try to figure out what unique service or product you can offer, try some things, go for it. If it doesn’t work, adapt, but don’t give up.”
For more information on Budding Ideas, watch the video on The Community Press website later in the week, and visit the Budding Ideas website at www.budding-ideas.ca and find Budding Ideas on Facebook.
As published in the December 12 edition of The Community Press – on newsstands today. Never miss an issue, become a SUBSCRIBER today!
The Flagstaff Region Featured Business is a monthly newspaper and web feature presented in partnership by Flagstaff County and The Community Press. For more information, contact Jenalee Blackhurst, Economic Development Coordinator, at 780-384-4152.
