Bron Hansboro inside his new shop, Brookland Park Flowers & Gifts (Photo courtesy Bron Hansboro)
The past 12 months have been exceptionally busy for Bron Hansboro.
Known to many as The Flower Guy Bron, Hansboro has established himself as a premier floral and event designer who’s in demand up and down the East Coast. But in the past year, he’s also opened a neighborhood flower and gift shop, he’s acquired a lighting company, and — the most recent development — he plans to launch a high-end wedding rental business soon.
“We want to be a lifestyle option,” Hansboro says. “We want to be part of your life forever.”
A former special education teacher, Hansboro makes service and relationships central elements of all his business ventures, which began with wedding florals. “Long before I felt I had decent design skills, I was learning how to interact with clients and create an experience,” he says. “When clients leave [a meeting], I want them to feel transformed. That’s the basis of how I build my brand.”
That approach has served him well. Hansboro first began working as The Flower Guy Bron in 2014 and moved into a storefront at 1001 E. Main St. in 2015. In 2018, having outgrown that location, he relocated to North Side, to 214 Brookland Park Ave., where the additional square footage supported his floral business and enabled him to provide collaborative space for other wedding professionals.
While the pandemic put a damper on weddings in 2020, business rebounded in 2021, and Hansboro realized he needed to expand yet again. So in October 2021, he acquired a 20,000-square-foot warehouse on Chamberlayne Avenue.
Then came the branching out. In March 2022, Hansboro acquired Leap Lighting + Design, a company that often worked the luxe weddings that Hansboro was designing. Leap’s owner was looking for a change, so he approached Hansboro, asking if he’d ever considered buying a lighting company. “The answer was absolutely yes!” Hansboro says, laughing.
The two struck a deal over meetings at restaurants.
“Neither of us had any experience with transferring a business,” Hansboro says. “We just talked about what we wanted the relationship to look like. He was gracious in committing to being part of the transition, and we retained all of the original [Leap] team members. We’ve been very mindful of how that transition looked and wanted to embrace [Leap staff] as a family and as part of The Flower Guy Bron brand of business.”
Leap moved into the new Chamberlayne Avenue warehouse, leaving an opportunity for another new venture — Brookland Park Flowers & Gifts — which opened in August. Designed to serve the neighborhood with fresh flowers and gifts for all occasions, the shop is stocked with items that have been hand-picked by Hansboro and his husband of nearly a decade, Lloyd Eley. When Hansboro isn’t managing a weekend event, he and Eley are often found in the store, helping customers find that perfect item for themselves or others.
“[The store merchandise] is such an extension of our personal lifestyle — we love charcuterie, knickknacks, chintz, unnecessary excess,” Hansboro says. “It’s so fun for Lloyd to see how people respond to what he selected. I’m very respectful and appreciative that he takes so much time to support The Flower Guy Bron.”
Hansboro says that his next venture, The Event House, will bring luxury designer chairs and tables, custom dance floors and bars, larger-scale drapery services, and new staging opportunities to Richmond event planners. “I saw a need for higher-end rental options that are available in every surrounding market, with the exception of Richmond,” he says, adding that couples and people planning larger gatherings will now have access to a much wider array of options.
He sees his expansions as a logical extension of his original dream.
“We are a custom design service, and we incorporate interior design and fashion design,” Hansboro says. “We have a full appreciation of space and scale and what type of layers are necessary for the level of hosting you have. We can protect our customers’ investment in their flowers by lighting them properly. If you’re in a ballroom that’s already ornately decorated, we’re able to complement that space.”
And, he adds, it all works because of his team and the project management structure they have developed.
“As [the company] grows in scale, the people who are leading different business ventures are those who have experience with our level of service,” he says. “They have seen the proof is in the pudding. We do invest in our personnel and team members and believe that what we are doing with people makes a difference. We only seek relationships where we truly believe that gratitude flows in both ways. We might be tired, but we are never depleted with service. It’s our ministry; we cannot be depleted.”
