KJ Goats expands into fresh flowers

It has been just about a decade since Hope area residents could buy fresh cut flowers and floral arrangements on the town Square and that is a scarcity Eric and Kim Everroad are hoping to remedy.

When the couple opened KJ Goat Soaps and Lotions on the Square back in May, they hadn’t anticipated flowers would become part of the business plan.

That is, until about a month ago.

As life would have it, the couple came into possession of a stand-up flower cooler that was the perfect item to jumpstart a new business venture.

Though it seemed somewhat random at the time, the couple realized the cooler could serve in-part as the catalyst for an addition to their current business of offering natural, handmade soaps and lotions derived from the milk of goats they raise.

Since opening, the Everroads have developed quite the customer-base while sales and talk of their products has consistently grown, Kim says.

So, when opportunity knocked for the couple to add the natural beauty of flowers to the mix, the couple couldn’t say, ‘No.’

“My first thought was, ‘There isn’t anybody on the Square anymore who does this stuff,’” Eric says. “I’ve been talking to a few people who said that is what we need here.”

The timing, need, and now the gifted cooler were all a bit fortuitous, he admits.

The couple, who both have a passion and a nearly lifelong knack for floral design, decided to take a leap of faith and have officially introduced flowers as a new branch of their existing natural soap and lotion business.

When customers walk through the door, they will still find their favorite soaps and lotions displayed off to the left, Kim says. All fresh flowers and floral arrangements along with their possible accessories, including baskets, mugs, and balloons, will be located off to the right.

“We are keeping the KJ Goat Soaps and Lotions name,” Kim says. “And we will just put ‘and Flowers’ on the end of it.”

As the couple gets their feet wet with the new addition and builds their stock, they are currently offering cut flower arrangements and mums for the coming fall, Kim says.

“We have a few bouquets I’ve made up,” Kim says. “We also have some individual snapdragons, gladiolas, and zinnias. You can pick what you want and make your own bouquet, too.”

Kim anticipates adding holiday centerpieces, bouquets for any special occasion, funeral sprays, garden planters, and hanging baskets in the coming months. Many of the items can be made-to-order, she says.

Among her specials is one for area highs school students, she says, to help kick things off.

“We are offering students from area high schools, like Hauser and Southwestern, if they come in and show their school ID we will give them 10 percent off of their corsages and boutonnières.”

For now, to keep their supply stocked, the couple is purchasing some of their flowers, including roses and baby’s-breath, from third party vendors and says that arrangement is temporary.

The plan, as it stands now, is to begin growing flowers in earnest with aggressive planting on three acres at their daughter’s property in Vevay in the spring, Eric says. Then, going forward, there will be two people at the shop and one, which Eric says will most likely be him, maintaining the gardens and greenhouses.

Eric adds that, for him, the new addition will be a welcomed stress-reliever.

“Whenever I am stressed out and I come over here and work with the flowers I get stress-free and that is something I like,” he says.

Despite the freshness of the venture and remaining unknowns, the couple is excited to offer Hope residents a service they’ve lacked since about the early 2000s, Kim says.

“I just hope it takes off,” Kim says. “Hope needs something like this here.”