Julie Drennen is happy with the success that her small business in Fairport Harbor Village has achieved after five years of operation. Drennen is the owner of Flowers by Julie at 900 High St. It is a full-service florist that provides flowers for holidays, as well events such as funerals, weddings, proms and homecoming dances, and parties. In addition, the shop specializes in creating flower arrangements and designs that are requested by customers for various reasons or occasions. Other popular items offered are fresh-cut flowers, fresh house plants and planters designed by Drennen. Although the business has been based at its current location since 2021, Drennen started Flowers by Julie in 2019 by setting up shop in the basement of her home on New Street in Fairport Harbor. Along with providing customers with arrangements and designs composed of traditional flowers, Flowers by Julie in Fairport Harbor sells an assortment of air plants, pictured here. Air plants are houseplants that grow and reproduce without any soil. Owners of air plants only need to mist them with a little bit of water once a month, said Flowers by Julie owner Julie Drennen. Flowers by Julie, located at 900 High St., recently marked its five-year anniversary. (Bill DeBus – The News-Herald) Relocating her store to High Street, which comprises the bulk of downtown Fairport Harbor, has created more walk-in traffic, Drennen said. Merchants in downtown Fairport Harbor unite several times each year under the title The Shoppes of Fairport Harbor and conduct downtown-wide events aimed at attracting many shoppers and giving them plenty to look at and purchase. Examples of these annual initiatives include a Sidewalk Sale during the summer; a Spring Open House; and a Holiday Open House in early November. “When we have events, I guarantee we’ll get more people into our shop,” she said. Although Flowers by Julie is not situated amid the cluster of specialty shops which occupy the 200 to 400 block of High Street, all of the downtown business owners work together to promote the entire commercial district, Drennen noted. “When I have something going on down here, I also encourage customers to visit the shops uptown (between the 200 and 400 block of High Street),” she said. “And when (the events are focused uptown), those shop owners send (customers) down here.” Since launching Flowers by Julie in 2019, Drennen has functioned as the one and only employee of the business. If she can’t break away to deliver flowers, she enlists volunteers such as friends or her husband, when he’s not working as a professional truck driver. Drennen said she believes that word-of-mouth promotion from satisfied patrons is a major reason why the shop has gained customers from all over Lake County. For example, when it to comes to sales of corsages and boutonnieres for proms and homecomings, Flowers by Julie has filled orders for students from schools that include Madison, Perry, Riverside, Harvey, Mentor, Lake Catholic and Kirtland. “We’ve gone as far west as Willoughby South,” she said. Her shop also has secured places on lists of preferred florists for businesses such as the Mark F. Burr Funeral Homes; Spear-Mulqueeny Funeral Homes; and The Madison, an event and party center in Cleveland, Drennen said. Two other highlights occurred in 2022 and 2024, when the shop was named as the top florist in Cleveland Magazine’s Best of the East competition. “The first time (winning top florist in the Best of the East competition) was more of a shock —  I thought (the award sponsors) were lying,” Drennen said. “The second time it was like ‘Oh, thank you.’ I thanked the Fairport Harbor community because if it wasn’t for them, I probably wouldn’t have been nominated a second time.” Drennen, who has more than 20 years of experience of working in floral shops, said she’s happy with the decision she made to launch Flowers by Julie. “I want to keep doing it as long as I can,” she said.