OROVILLE — Walking into the side door of Oroville Flower Shop is like entering a secret garden. The floor is strewn with bits and pieces of flower stems and greenery; the large work station, sitting in the center of the room, is covered with flowers; and the air is sweet with the light scent of fresh-cut blossoms.
On the far wall, the words “La Vita e Bella” (life is beautiful) are spelled out in large letters — and, for third-generation owner Emily Jackson, there couldn’t be a truer motto.
“I love to come to work every day,” she said. “I find peace in working with the flowers.”
Maybe a little less peace on Valentine’s Day, which has been the shop’s busiest day of the year since her husband’s grandfather, Jim Smith, bought the business in the early 1970s.
“On Valentine’s Day, it’s all hands on deck,” she said. “We’re ready for walk-in, same-day purchases and we do deliveries.”
In addition to the traditional red roses, the shop offers a large selection of other blooms in bouquets or vase arrangements. There are balloons and truffles from a Sacramento confectioner that can be added purchases. Since taking ownership, Jackson has also added gift baskets to the shop’s offerings including baskets for kids because, “sometimes dads like to get their little girls something special for Valentine’s Day.”
After purchasing the business, Smith relocated from downtown to the first floor of a two-story building on Lincoln Street near the corner of Mitchell Avenue; then, in 1996, he moved the business across the street to its current location at 2322 Lincoln St.
“Back when I owned the shop, a woman at the city records department told me it was one of the few continuously running businesses in Oroville,” said Julie Jackson, Smith’s daughter and Emily’s mother-in-law. “I guess we’re pretty rare.”
Julie Jackson started working in the shop when she was kid as did her two sisters and three brothers.
“It was a big family affair,” she said. “We were encouraged to work in the shop if we wanted money to go to a dance or something.”
Three days after she graduated from Oroville High School in 1983, Julie Jackson left for San Luis Obispo, where she spent the summer in an “intensive floral design school program.” Returning home she went to work in the shop fulltime and in 1990 earned her master floral designer certificate. Eight years later, when her father retired, she took over the business and ran it “the same way he had for 24 years.”
When Julie was ready to retire in 2022, Emily Jackson, who’d worked in the shop since 2015, and Jeremy Jackson bought the business.
“It was a family-owned business, and I felt it was our duty to buy it and keep it going,” said Emily Jackson. “I have a lot of pride in Oroville and in this family business. Knowing I could do it, that I could run it, I just couldn’t imagine it being closed after 72 years. I didn’t want to let anybody down – the family or the community.”
Emily Jackson was also looking ahead to the family’s fourth generation especially, after her daughters Reece and Presley were born.
“I want them to have the opportunity to take it over someday, if either of them wants to,” she said. “They may or may not, but I want them to have the choice.”
Through the years, the business has grown and catered to the many whims and demands of its customers, especially for weddings, bridal showers and large events. For one memorial service, the shop had a large custom tray made, which Julie Jackson then filled with an arrangement of flowers so it “looked like a pond with water, cattails, lily pads and grasses.” For one wedding, at the request of the groom, they created bouquets and arrangements out of nothing but thistles, which was both “unusual and beautiful.” And, for one customer, they delivered roses to his wife on their anniversary, one for every year they were married, starting with one rose and adding a rose every year for 55 years.
While she doesn’t own the shop anymore, preferring to spend her time with her granddaughters, Julie Jackson will be working side-by-side with Emily Jackson as the two, along with the shop’s four part-time employees, create special bouquets of love for old and new customers once again this Valentine’s Day.
Kyra Gottesman covers local business for the Enterprise-Record and the Mercury-Register. Reach her at kgottesman@chicoer.com.
