As a banker, Lucia Resendiz Garcia was inspired by her entrepreneurial customers to start her own business. After working with the Laurel Ridge SBDC to establish Lucy’s Custom Arrangements, business is now in full bloom.

“I wasn’t sure at first what I even wanted my business to be, but I started to see these people on social media making these kinds of arrangements and bouquets,” Lucy says. “I fell in love with them. At first, I didn’t think it was possible because I was working full time, my son was three and I just didn’t feel like I had the time.’

“But then I said, let me do just one. I tried it and fell in love with it right away.”

That first arrangement proved to be the spark that ignited Lucy’s entrepreneurial spirit. She debuted her work on her own social media channels, and soon orders started to pour in. With the help of her mother, who is also a business owner, Lucy launched Lucy’s Custom Arrangements in June 2020.

In less than a year, demand grew to the point where Lucy needed to officially establish her business. That led her to the Laurel Ridge SBDC and Business Advisor Diana Patterson, who helped her set up Lucy’s Custom Arrangements as a registered company.

“Diana was a huge help at first,” Lucy says. “She made everything so easy and just very simple.”

With her business foundation established, Lucy’s sales continued to grow. She and her mother began selling their arrangements at pop-up shops during holidays like Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day. But her company soon outgrew that model, which prompted Lucy to consider a big next step.

“We did pop-ups at physical locations, and it was just a huge success,” Lucy says. “So many people were able to find us at our pop-ups, even if it wasn’t a known location, so I said we needed to have a physical space.”

After finding an available location on Costello Drive in Winchester, Lucy returned to the SBDC for guidance.

“Diana and I talked about opening a physical location, and she let me know all the steps I needed to take to make it happen,” Lucy says. “There was a lot [I hadn’t thought about], like getting renters insurance, finding a good CPA, that I could request rent abatement for the first month, and things like that. Getting [rent abatement] was a huge help; I didn’t even know that was an option until she told me.”

Since her grand opening in September 2024, Lucy has been working to make the new location her own. Her customer base has expanded into Richmond and Washington, D.C., while also retaining many of her original clients.

“A lot of my customers come in and they’re like, ‘I remember when you were working from home,’” Lucy says.

Just like her bouquets, Lucy’s business is blooming.