When Robert Winston wheeled his flower cart onto Newbury Street in 1944, he wasn’t planning on starting something of a local flower empire, but that’s just what Winston Flowers has become. As the award-winning floral design and events company enters its 75th year, it’s clear that things have stuck close to those humble roots. The business is still family-owned, now operated by Robert’s grandsons Ted and David Winston—their dad, Maynard, made the Newbury Street storefront a destination that became one of the first U.S. florists to import new exotic blooms from Europe. “That Newbury Street shop has always held tremendous significance for both our family and the company. I lived, went to school, and got married all within two blocks of the store,” says David. In addition to that shop—not far from where the original flower cart was stationed—Winston owns six additional retail spaces and two design studios, in Boston and Long Island City, N.Y., and also manages a thriving philanthropic program, dubbed Charity in Bloom and spearheaded by Ted’s wife, Simone, that has raised more than $2 million for health and wellness charities across the region. But despite these large accomplishments, the brothers’ greatest achievement is simple: “I am most proud of the relationships that we have built within the community,” says Ted. “There are families that Winston Flowers has been a part of for generations—people whom my father and grandfather started working with, and now their children and their children’s children are clients. We have been with those families for weddings, births and every type of occasion both happy and sad. Relationships are the foundation of our business and the reason for our success through the years.”
Photography by: Gabriella Riggieri
