Dorothy's Florist & Gift Shop — Attraction in DeLand

I wanted to like this shop, but the entire experience was uncomfortable. I guess I was confused about it being a florist shop, because the store was so packed with kitchsy items that there was only room for walking in a single file line. I didn’t see a single flower. That itself is not a problem, I can be festive and I appreciate the intentionality behind the placement of everything. Some of it was really cute! I would’ve bought a few things, too, but the staff there was so unpleasant that I’d almost call it aggressive.

I went with two friends and my two children. We were around a wide ornament display, and we all reached for an ornament to turn it to face us - a totally normal movement when you’re shopping, nothing fast or clumsy. One of the workers was not ok with that. As a larger man, he made a big show of coming out from behind the counter to say “Be careful, girls!” Not sure if he’s just a louder person.. but definitely an overreaction, to the point that other patrons were looking at us to see what we’d done wrong.

As we continued walking through the store, I was (surprisingly!) alone in one of the little sections. He walks in and starts fussing with a display of pillows behind me - I recognized one of the pillows on top as one that one of my children was just holding and asking if she could buy. “I spent so much time making this look nice!” He complained in an unmistakable tone. As if my kid messed up a basket full of pillows and he was so put out to make it look nice again. (I learned later from my friend that it was already messed up when they walked up to it and it was definitely still a mess when he left.)

After that, I just decided to leave. But don’t worry!! As I’m waiting in line to shuffle out behind another group of people, he managed to find me and bump into me without acknowledging the physical contact.

All-in-all, none of this is overwhelmingly terrible and I’m not trying to cancel this man or this shop. I just know that my children and I prefer to shop at businesses where we are welcomed and feel comfortable. Fortunately, there are a few other local florists I can shop with instead.

EDIT: I changed my review down to 1 star (was 2 stars) after the owner of the store replied. Saying that their staff is always kind and courteous to someone who had an experience that was the opposite is tone deaf and actually rude. Like I said, I really wanted to like this place. I get the amusement of decorating and going all out. I will never be ok with being treated that way and then spoken to as if I was in the wrong just for existing. I'm well aware of how to behave in a store with my children. This place is clearly only...

The first floral arrangement was done beautifully by a lady we thought to be awesome. This second arrangement for Valentine's Day was the polar opposite. We went into Dorothy's to purchase a few gifts and to discuss what we wanted in the arrangement. Even though we had a misunderstanding about what we expected, there was no indication of the flowers representing Valentine's Day at all. We expected red roses, star gazer lilies, bells of Ireland. We discussed possibly including som dark pink roses and delphinium. After the lady said it would look too patriotic with any white baby's breath, we said. Let's not do that. Just do red roses, and star gazer lilies aith bells of Ireland. Instead, we paid $135.00 for an awful older light pink floralarrangement that had 5 childish pink roses, half dead snap dragons, and half dead star gazer lilies (all of these had to be thrown out) and some bells of Ireland, with some blue delphinium. Do not waste your money in this store. One is better off going to Publix, buying flowers that are in small separate bunches, and then doing the arrangement oneself. My husband ND I were very disappointed in this to say the least! We tried calling to speak to the lady, who did the arrangement. She knew our number and refused to take our call. Then we called again and my husband asked for her. Once on the phone we both told her of our disappointment in this arrangement and that we expected red roses. She just made lots of excuses and did not offer to make it right at all. After having read some reviews from the owners of this store to answer dissatisfied customers, I see an ongoing pattern of defensiveness and justification about how great their store is and again, nothing to make it right for people. We felt very ripped off...

If I could, I wouldn’t even give this place a 1 star. VERY DISSATISFIED AND DISAPPOINTED!!! ITEMS ARE NOT AS ADVERTISED ON THEIR WEBSITE!! I live in New Jersey and decided to order the medium size Tea Cup Bouquet, for Mother’s Day for my aunt that lives in deland, Fl. On the description it said old-fashioned bouquet featuring pink roses in a floral teacup. Cream roses, pink spray roses, miniature pink carnations and delicate pink limonium are presented in a teacup and saucer with a Victorian flower pattern.

Well, The flowers were nothing as pictured on their website. She received purple and yellow carnations and daisy’s. The arrangement had no cream or pink roses AT ALL! Even the tea cup which was a REGULAR size tea cup instead, nothing like the picture as described!!! When I called to ask what happened, I was told they did not have the tea cup or flowers available because of the Covid shortage. I suggested they should’ve contact me for a replacement and approval before delivering out the item. She apologized and said she would have someone come out and deliver a second arrangement with roses. Second arrangement arrived with only a few carnations again and same color as previous and only 1 PINK ROSE wrapped with out a vase or anything to make up for their mistake!! Very disappointed, the picture of both arrangements sent are uploaded along with what I was expecting so you guys can compare. FYI, the glass vase was my aunts own and not sent with the flowers. Money thrown out the window, I will never order from this location again. I wouldn’t...