Stunning ocean themed window display designed to help ‘bring smiles to faces’ of local community

Posted by rob smyth | Published: 18/06/2020


Colleagues at the Central England Florist Shop in Great Barr have been getting creative and designing a stunning window display to help spread some cheer during uncertain times.

The talented florists decided to deck out the front of their shop, in Walsall Road, with an ocean theme to ‘bring smiles to faces’ as high streets across the country get set to re-open for the first time since lockdown.

The display features a variety of different fish and even a five-foot sea horse.

Sue Carty, from Great Barr Florist, said: “One of the team came up with the idea and decided to make a ‘small’ sea horse for the window.

“However, it turned out to be five-foot tall and then evolved into an ocean idea with jellyfish and hanging fish also appearing.

“We had no fresh flowers or plants in the shop so we needed to think of something which had an 'attention grabbing factor' in such a big window.

“We have had loads of interest and many people have taken photos (which always happens with June's windows).

“There are plans for the next window in the coming months but we are still working on the theme.

“We are hoping this is a great way of showcasing our community spirit and also bringing a bit of joy to our fantastic community during these tough times.”

The debut of the window comes after the shop revealed it was again available to create funeral floral tributes for families following updated Government guidance.

Focusing on funeral flowers the Society’s florists will be creating special arrangements to enable families to say goodbye. However, the shop will remain closed to the general public to allow the team to focus on funeral tributes.

During the pandemic Central England Co-op’s floral colleagues have been helping in its food stores and funeral homes, as well as finding time to help families with advice and tips on creating natural arrangements from resources available in gardens. Feedback has been very positive, and families have been very grateful for this support. 

Floral teams are now looking forward to helping with bespoke tributes and Central England Co-op florists are pleased to announce that this is supported with new arrangements called the Florists Choice. This is a specially designed range of floral tributes unique for its clients.

People can find out more about the funeral changes by visiting www.centralengland.coop/updates

 

 

Notes to editors

 

Picture caption: The stunning window display at the Central England Co-op Florist, in Great Barr.

 

About Central England Co-operative

 

Central England Co-operative is one of the largest independent retail co-operative societies in the UK with interests in food, funeral, floral, travel and property investment.

 

Co-operatives have always been there for their communities; they were formed to protect them and help them flourish. 

 

Our 7,900 colleagues who serve Members and customers work hard to ensure that co-operative values, principles and spirit flow through everything we do to help support and improve our local communities.

 

Owned by hundreds of thousands of Members, we have over 430 trading outlets across 16 counties including West Midlands, Warwickshire, Worcestershire, Staffordshire, Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Rutland, Nottinghamshire, Northamptonshire, Lincolnshire, West Yorkshire, South Yorkshire, Suffolk, Norfolk, Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire. 

 

We are proud of our reputation for ethical business practices and corporate responsibility.

 

We invest a percentage of our trading profit into local communities through our Community Dividend Fund scheme, have donated over £1.3 million to our corporate charity partner Dementia UK and also operate a pioneering food redistribution partnership with FareShare Midlands so unsold food goes to those in need.

 

Visit www.centralengland.coop for more information or follow us on Facebook or Twitter using @mycoopfood

 

 

Press office contacts: Rob Smyth and James Brindle

 

Phone - 01543 421390

 

Email - publicrelations@centralengland.coop