Pearson’s Florist

I’m giving Pearson’s a one star review based on a particular incident. That’s not to say that I wouldn’t purchase from there in the future, under different circumstances or necessarily warn people away from the place, but I feel that I should share this experience.
Anyway, it was my first time buying flowers… for anyone. It was a Sunday, flower shops across the city were closed and I wanted them sh*ts bought and delivered as soon as I could. So, I started planning to find a shop that was open early enough before I had to go to work and buy from them I figured «Hey, Pearson’s is a flower shop.» I know this because I pass the place on the 003 bus all the damn time. Plus, they have parrots. They set them on the curb streetside sometimes and I even fed one a peanut before. Needless to say, Pearson was gonna be my guy. Looked on Unilocal (ironically), found that they opened shop at 9:30 and made it a point to stop there and take care of business before the daily grind.
Veering off topic for a bit, I’m currently employed as a property manager (read: glorified pooper scooper) in the Ruxton area of Towson. There is a quaint little shopping area about 100 – 150 yards away. In my search to find a suitable florist, I couldn’t help but to think that I might have noticed a flower shop in that center, at some point in time. But, I just wasn’t sure and thought that I may have been mistaken. No matter, Pearson was gonna be my guy and he had parrots. Sold, to the jackass who’s easily impressed.
I arrive at Pearson’s shortly before 9:30, as I had planned, only to wait outside as 9:30 came and went. Around 9:45 or so, I see a dude walking up towards the shop. «Oh, good. He must be here to open up.» Wrong. Dude had come to buy flowers. «Sh*t, when is this place gonna open? I gotta roll.» We both continue to wait for close to 20 more minutes until homeboy taps out, calls it quits and drives off. Luckily, my job is a little bit flexible, so I call and tell the bossman to expect me a little later than usual. Alls cool on that end and it can’t be TOO much longer until this place opens, at least I thought so. More waiting. It’s well past 10am at this point and after waiting and calling the shop number multiple times, I’m getting ready to call it quits. But, a little voice in my head tells me to wait just a few more minutes. At that point, I see someone walk into the main room of the shop. He’s looking toward the front door and then walks away. Thinking to myself that he probably doesn’t know that I’ve been waiting to buy flowers for 45 minutes, I tap lightly on the glass and shrug my shoulders in a sort of inquisitive, «What’s good, yo?» fashion. I get the same shrug back in response, as if he weren’t aware that the store hours were listed in multiple sources as opening at 9:30am. He then walks about the main area in plain sight, even taking care to look back out at me while he feeds the parrots. «Motherfu-​», I mutter to myself.
Finally, as I further contemplate waiting for the store to open or saying eff it, a van stops at a red light at the intersection of North and Charles… right in front of Pearson’s. Ironically and conveniently enough for me, this van is marked as belonging to Rutland Beard Florist, listing locations in Catonsville, Mays Chapel and RUXTON, of all places. Thus, this confirmed my suspicion of there being a florist but mere yards away from my place of employment. Not hard to guess that it was a wrap for that Pearson dude. He’d lost not just one customer, but two. I headed to work, stopped into Rutland Beard, where I was quickly helped to select a very nice floral arrangement, as we all shared a laugh about the morning’s events and how they serendipitously led me to my first flower buying experience at their establishment. The recipient of the flowers was more than pleased with them and I got a pen that guarantees me $ 5 off future deliveries from them. Forever. They then told me that I didn’t really need the pen; that I could just say that I had one and still receive the discount. Awesome. Thanks Rutland Beard, you definitely saved my ass.
You can read my review of Rutland Beard Florist and part 2 of me story here:

I am exceptionally pleased with my 1^st experience with Pearson’s. I ordered an anniversary bouquet sight unseen to be delivered to my wife and she was very pleased. As a matter of fact, she said it was the most beautiful bouquet she had ever seen! The delivery man was also very cordial to her. Many thanks to the staff at Pearson’s. I’ll be back and I am going to spread the word!

I’ve lived in Baltimore for a minute now. It’s only natural that I’ll soon take to a life of crime, capers and just straight up perpetratin’. Ya know how the streets can be. So before I get got let me tell all y’all that you better go to Pearson’s for my funeral flowers. Pick up something real nice. That’s how I wanna go. Y’heard?!

I’ve never ordered flowers before so I have nothing to compare my experience to but I figured I should leave a review so others know what to expect.
I had to order a thank you bouquet for a coworker I don’t know very well. I was a little surprised when I walked in because there weren’t any flowers visible in the shop; there were some crowns of greenery and a lot of little teddy bears and various accoutrements that people like to include in a bouquet but no proper flowers. The two owners were clearly busy finishing some last-​minute corsages and were obviously flustered so I’m sure the service I received probably isn’t reflective of how they are when they’re not so busy. As it was I told them what I needed and they handed me a book of arrangements to choose from. I was hoping for something more original and personalized but maybe that’s not how these things are supposed to work? I chose a mid-​sized bouquet in a pretty basket and with delivery (an additional $ 12) it came out to just under $ 60 which was about as much as I was expecting to spend. I’m a little disappointed that I won’t get to see the bouquet before it’s delivered and don’t even really have an idea of how their arrangements usually look but again, maybe that’s standard and I just had unrealistic expectations.
They did promise to deliver later that afternoon, which was a quicker turnaround than I expected so that was a plus. I can only give 3 stars because I really would’ve appreciated more attention and service and guidance since I had no idea what I was doing but I understand that maybe I just caught them at a bad time.

I stopped by on my way home to buy flowers for my anniversary and they were extremely helpful. I told them about how much I wanted to spend and what I wanted or didn’t want and then I let them put it together. They made a really nice bouquet that was much bigger than I expected for the cost. Also, it is now about a week later and most of the flowers are still looking nice.
The employees were extremely helpful as well since it was raining and I had to get the flowers into my backpack for the ride home. They found some wire to help hold everything closed.
I will definitely go back

I purchased an exceptional bouquet for only $ 20. The owners will let you design your own bouquet. I chose for the professionals to put together my bouquet, and it was absolutely beautiful. A similar bouquet in my area would cost well over $ 150.00. There is an adorable parrot that talks, and the owners are very friendly and helpful. This location is near my job so I made purchases before I watched «The Wire.» They only problem, they do not accept credit cards.