User

2022-05-20 23:50:40 By : Ms. Lisa Cheng

Local entrepreneurs Charlotte Cooper and Kendra Langis both have an incredible flair for the creative.   

The pair have had ample opportunities to showcase their remarkable creative talents in years past – Cooper through her highly-successful and immensely popular home-based business Daisy’s Doggie Desserts and Langis through her memorable marketing work at WMA Promotions – but they both shared a dream of branching out and creating their own, one-of-a-kind business in Sarnia-Lambton.    

After a lot of hard work, on May 14 Cooper and Langis held the grand opening of their brand new Michigan Street gift shop and café, Gemini Bouquets & Café.  

Filled with beautifully arranged delicacies, scented candles, potent home brewed coffee, fresh baked goods and a stunning variety of bouquets made from virtually all types of foodstuff, the store, named Gemini as both Cooper and Langis share the same astrological sign, is the glorious culmination of an idea the co-owners shared over the past few years.   

While understandably a little nervous about opening a new small business, the co-owners seem completely at ease, comfortably interacting with their five employees, enjoying every minute of their brand new adventure.   

“It’s come about very organically,” Langis said. “Things have come into place for us without us having to force them.  

“We’ve been talking about opening some kind of business for several years. And we became aware that there was a hole in the market because there was a lady in town who previously did these types of bouquets and she retired last October,” she continued. “So we started teaching ourselves how to make these bouquets.”  

While Langis said she was fine with running a home-based business, Cooper wanted a larger place where they could ply their trade.  

“Charlotte was pretty aggressive,” Langis said with a laugh. “She wanted to have a storefront, and she came across this place. She convinced me to take a look at this place, and I had it in my mind that we were not going to get a storefront at that point, but we came and we thought, ‘It doesn’t get any better than this’ in terms of the space and the location.”  

“The new business was one of those things I felt really positive about,” Cooper added. “Kendra has such an eye for details in terms of the bouquets, it’s just amazing. She saw the vision, what the layout was going to look like, the colours and we really agreed on all of it.”

While their main idea was to create cool and clever food and fruit bouquets for all occasions, Cooper and Langis discovered that with their new space they would have the chance at opening a little coffee shop on the side.  

“Kevin (owner of Sharkskin Weathergear, now located on the second floor), he already had café equipment here, he had a little bit of a coffee shop going prior to COVID. But he had no interest in running it himself, he’s trying to wind down, and he wanted to sell the equipment,” Langis said. “So we thought what a great opportunity for us to have more streams of revenue to pay the bills here. Neither of us are avid coffee drinkers but our staff has been amazing.”

Featuring everything from their own Gemini Coffee blend to scones, biscotti and a variety of fresh fruit smoothies, the café side of the business has gotten great feedback so far, Cooper said, and will probably flourish during the summer as the shop features a beautiful outdoor patio.    

“People have been so kind,” she said. “We’ve had nothing but good feedback about the taste of our coffee, our smoothies, our Italian sodas and our baked goods.”  

Though there are a variety of gifts available for purchase at the store, undoubtedly the main attraction at Gemini’s is the bouquets. Typically the average range for a bouquet is anywhere from $35 to $60, but more elaborate bouquets can be ordered too. Fruity, chocolaty, sweet, savoury, meaty or cheesy – you name the type of bouquet that you want and Gemini staff will work their magic for you.  

“We took the idea of these bouquets and put our own spin on them,” Langis said. “For instance, we’ve made a charcuterie bouquet, which we hadn’t heard of before, and we’ve had a great reception from our customers.  

“We can customize them too if people want them for a specific occasion. They’re very versatile gifts,” she added. And on top of providing unique gifts and foodstuff for local residents, Cooper and Langis said they also are actively supporting their fellow local entrepreneurs – they are truly walk the talk when it comes to supporting local.  

“We’ve got some local companies on consignment,” Cooper said. “We’re doing a unique picnic basket … that you can take here up to the bridge, into the park or back home with you to use in the backyard. And we thought it would be nice to include candles in that, as well as bath bombs, pet items and other things.”

Looking ahead, the co-owners hope that with warmer weather ahead, more visitors will discover their little slice of heaven in Point Edward, a labour of love for both of them.  

“It’s not been without struggles – we’ve definitely had our moments … but we both really believe in what we’re doing and feel that it’s going to pay off – we  just have to get the word out,” Langis said.   

“We’re talking about soups and sandwiches in the fall, doing monthly events – we had a couple of musicians for our grand opening and that was great, so maybe we’ll do once-a-month musicians and we’ve talked about karaoke night – that would be incredible,” she added, smiling.

“We’ve also talked about a car and coffee night with Sarnia Street Machines, we have a Zumba day to draw some attention … karaoke and ice caps,” Cooper said.  

“So we’ve got some really good ideas, there’s open communication here between us and that really helps us as business partners. We’re really excited about the future.”  

Gemini Bouquets & Café is located at 112 Michigan Ave. in Point Edward and is open seven days a week. For more information visit their Facebook and Instagram pages, or phone 226-932-6582.  

Postmedia is committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion and encourage all readers to share their views on our articles. Comments may take up to an hour for moderation before appearing on the site. We ask you to keep your comments relevant and respectful. We have enabled email notifications—you will now receive an email if you receive a reply to your comment, there is an update to a comment thread you follow or if a user you follow comments. Visit our Community Guidelines for more information and details on how to adjust your email settings.

365 Bloor Street East, Toronto, Ontario, M4W 3L4

© 2022 Sarnia & Lambton County This Week, a division of Postmedia Network Inc. All rights reserved. Unauthorized distribution, transmission or republication strictly prohibited.

This website uses cookies to personalize your content (including ads), and allows us to analyze our traffic. Read more about cookies here. By continuing to use our site, you agree to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.