The Sunnyvale Sun
Cover Story
Photograph by Vicki Thompson
Sunnyvale resident Kren Rasmussen (left) and employee Jessica Bennett put together a floral arrangement. Bloomster's is known throughout the valley for its unique arrangements. The store has earned top honors in the floral industry in recent years
Full Bloom
Acclaimed ฿orist celebrates 20-year legacy
By SARAH HOLCOMB
When Bloomster's opened its doors 20 years ago, Kren Rasmussen, a Sunnyvale resident, and his family thought it would be a simple, family-owned flower shop. They were wrong. The shop has become anything but simple.
Today, Bloomster's is recognized throughout the Bay Area and holds top florist honors in San Jose. Rasmussen's designs are in high demand at hotels, fundraising galas and a wide range of social events, including intimate home gatherings and the "Dancing Under the Dome" fundraiser for the new Cancer Center at Santa Clara Valley Medical Center held at the new San Jose City Hall. The shop is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year.
Despite such enormous and unexpected success, the shop has retained a family atmosphere.
The friendly and bustling atmosphere at the shop reflects Rasmussen's personality as he swiftly walks around the shop in a bright yellow sweater with papers in hand, a wireless earpiece mounted on his right ear and a smile on his face.
"I don't relax well," he says. "But my parents didn't, either."
The Rasmussen family laid the foundation for the Almaden Valley business, including choosing the name, which stems from the Danish word for flower: blømster.
Rasmussen learned the basics of plants and flowers from his father, Axel, who made his living as a landscaper after he immigrated to the United States from Denmark. When Bloomster's started, his mother, Lily, helped with the accounting. Both of his parents are now deceased.
His brother, Torben, still lives in the family home on Camden Avenue with his family.
Their sister, Greta Jensen, who started the business with Rasmussen 20 years ago eventually had to pull back from the business to tend to her growing family.
Rasmussen earned an accounting degree at University of the Pacific. To help pay for school, he designed flower arrangements in the family garage.
"We were just a very average family; by no means were we wealthy, so if we were going to [start a business], it wasn't allowed to fail," Rasmussen said. "So I needed to get my schooling and get my training with the hopes that it would allow us do a better job."
Rasmussen has lived in Sunnyvale for the last 11 years with his partner, Sam Singer.
Because of his support for schools and nonprofit organizations, Rasmussen says the store receives more than 10 donation requests each week.
"We could donate the store away, easily," Rasmussen says.
In addition to a reputation for generosity, Rasmussen and Bloomster's have a reputation for excellence within the floral design industry.
For instance, Bloomster's participated in the Bouquets to Arts fundraiser at the De Young Museum in San Francisco. This invitation-only fundraiser calls on the top designers in the Bay Area to interpret the works of art within the museum and express them through a floral design.
Rasmussen says Bloomster's has been participating in the event for nearly 15 years.
This reputation, however, can often be intimidating to new designers.
Store manager John Southorn admits that when he first contemplated working at Bloomster's 10 years ago, he was a bit apprehensive.
"The store's a little intimidating as a designer because of the skill level and the type of work we put out," Southorn said.
Southorn had managed a store for
1-800-Flowers before working at Bloomster's and says he didn't have very much floral design experience.
"To come in totally green ... a lot of the times people don't feel they're at the same level," Southorn says. "And that still happens even today with designers who want to work here. They're nervous when they first come in."
Rasmussen says he tries to squelch the nervous feelings of new designers as soon as he can, because nerves detract from the creative process.
"We do have some fairly broad parameters of acceptable design, but there are parameters," Rasmussen says. "There is always a transition period. It usually takes as much as a year to get a person out of their old habits and to work toward a design that is cohesive to the overall Bloomster's look."
The Bloomster's look is a distinctive one, and longtime customers such as Jackie Jones can easily recognize them.
"Everyone can pick them out; they're unique, fresh, very sophisticated and classy," Jones says, adding that Rasmussen is always in on new trends. "Whatever's new, he's the first one to capture it."
A Bloomster's design is typically dramatic, bold and big, and incorporates plants, fruit, feathers, flowers and even branches. Recently, Rasmussen has experimented with using clear vases that he fills with fruit and colorful plants to complement the floral arrangement.
While Rasmussen and Bloomster's staff have worked hard to earn a reputation of excellence, they work just as hard to maintain it.
"We try to make sure every customer's experience is great and I think we've earned some of that [reputation], but it's not taken for granted," Rasmussen says. "We understand that we have to earn it every day."
After working from his home for about an hour in the morning, Rasmussen gets to the shop before 9 a.m. and stays long after closing, oftentimes until 8:30 or 9 p.m.
"I try to take Sundays off," he says, but acknowledges that most events are on weekends, so he often works Sundays so his staff doesn't have to.
"We'll do Sunday weddings or events, but I try to keep Sunday as a family day for the whole staff if possible," Rasmussen says. "That's why we're not open on Sundays."
This schedule can become exhausting, even for Rasmussen, who is known for his boundless energy, but he can't imagine doing anything else.
"I have an obligation to my customers, which keeps me striving to be the best, and I have an obligation to 35 staff members that the store needs to grow and needs to improve," Rasmussen said. "Those are real commitments, and I don't want to let them down. They don't let me down."
When Bloomster's began, Rasmussen had two helpers on staff. Now there are 35 part-time and full-time staff members.
"Never when I started the company did I ever think that we would need to have the level of staffing that we have today," Rasmussen says. But he says each person is needed to guarantee the level of quality that Bloomster's is known for.
As the store manager, Southorn coordinates all aspects of the shop's services, which include design, sales, deliveries and event work.
"There are 15 to 20 of us here on an average day, and I sort of coordinate all of what's going on," Southorn says. "When we are really busy, I refer to myself as the head zookeeper here at Bloomster's."
Rasmussen's interest in interior design has also grown into a branch of the business where the staff helps families and interior designers decorate homes and patios for the different seasons and holidays.
The shop has a retail area, which has hundreds of home accessories on display for homeowners and interior designers to browse.
There are also customers who have fresh arrangements delivered to their homes on a weekly or biweekly basis. The Hotel De Anza in downtown San Jose is one of them. For more than 10 years, Bloomster's has been responsible for the floral elements in the hotel.
Rasmussen has taken the regular deliveries to a new level in recent years by developing a branch of Bloomster's that he calls plantscaping. He goes to the customer's home and adds color and life to the yard with strategically placed flowers and plants.
"Most of us are pretty avid gardeners here in the store, so it's sort of a natural extension and a fun diversion to get your hands in the soil and be creative in that regard," Rasmussen says.
With the business growing, Rasmussen is always looking for ways to be the best.
"It's a moving target, it's always out in front of us, just like a rainbow," Rasmussen says. "We will never reach it, but that's reality."
His efforts to reach that rainbow have resulted in a business that is outgrowing its current location. Rasmussen said the production part of Bloomster's might move to a warehouse space in the next few years because the current space is becoming inefficient.
The retail store will always stay in Almaden, however, and Rasmussen says he isn't looking to open any other retail locations.
While Jones considers Rasmussen a genius when it comes to his trade, she goes back to the store every couple of weeks because of the customer service he and the staff provide.
"He's a genius and it's contagious; they're all like that," Jones says. "Everyone in the place is always happy; they adore him, so they're really like a big family. And they make you feel that way when you come in. They make you feel special."
