The flower shop opened in the spring of 1993, 10 months after the birth of my sister (Lunelly) for whom the store is named after. Not a year later would my brother (Kirk) be born and myself soon after. After school the three of us would go to the flower shop to do home work, watch TV, eat, sleep, but mostly… work. As much as we could, as often as we could, everyone in our family had to be in the flower shop putting in our fair share to the business that gave us everything. We all spent more time there than at our actual home, and over the years the flower shop has become more and more of a home, not just a place to sell flowers. It is by no means a perfect place, but in Astoria Queens, on 36th Ave and 29th street there is a small business that has seen the world around it constantly change and evolve, but has managed to stay the same for nearly thirty years. For many its where they go to not only buy flowers but to feel treated as a if they were invited into someones home. From its cluttered shelves, broken floor tile, taped up photos, and decades of nonsensical doodles, Flowers By Lunelly is more than just where I learned to make a floral bouquet and run a business, its where I learned to read and write, where I learned to be creative, where I learned to speak Spanish, and where I call home.
