Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, April 8, 1993 TAG: 9304080487
SECTION: NEIGHBORS PAGE: W-14 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: CHARLES STEBBINS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
BUSINESSES SHARE SPACE, MAINTAIN SEPARATE IDENTITY
Pretty Petal Designs, operated by Vicki Daulton, and Your Formal Occasions, operated by Ruth Sturgill, handle everything needed for weddings, parties, receptions and other formal occasions.The two businesses have the same address. But they are separate in every other aspect.
Sturgill's half of the business supplies formal dresses - for sale or rent - for wedding parties - or any other formal occasion.
Daulton's side of the business supplies men's tuxedos, fresh or silk flowers, invitations, napkins, cakes and catering.
Daulton's tuxedos also can be bought or rented.
"People don't need to go anywhere else," Sturgill said. "Between the two of us, we can supply everything needed."
They also can put wedding parties in touch with photographers, bands and even ministers, Daulton said.
Getting together in the Main Street shop was mostly accidental. But both had started part-time in their homes - Daulton's in 1978, and Sturgill's in 1987. They began sharing quarters in 1988 after meeting through a mutual friend.
The roots of Daulton's business go back to Mother's Day 1978, when she arranged silk-flower decorations for her mother and mother-in-law.
"Other people began asking me to do the same for them," she said, "and the business grew out of that."
For a time Daulton, who has two children at home and one away at college, handled only silk flowers. But she later decided to supply fresh flowers, too.
To do that she needed a shop with a cooler, so she moved into a building on College Avenue in Salem. She moved to her Main Street shop in 1985.
In the meantime, Sturgill, who was working at Salem Bank and Trust, began her dress-rental business.
"It was expanding all over the house," she said. "I needed more space."
A friend told Sturgill about a shop on Main Street where the owner had said she had more space than she needed. Because that shop also was in the wedding business, the friend said, it might be a suitable place for her dress-rental\ operation, Sturgill said.
So, she went by to see the shop and met Daulton.
Sturgill said they quickly saw that their businesses would complement each other and that they both had the same principles - honesty, and giving the customer full value.
Shortly after moving into the shop, Sturgill decided to give up her bank job and devote her full time to the dress business.
Sturgill and Daulton were brought together because of space - Daulton's excess and Sturgill's lack.
Now, ironically, space causes the biggest problem they have operating together. Sturgill said they need more and hope someday to move into bigger quarters.
Other than that, Sturgill said, they don't have any problems with their joint operation.
"We work well together because we have the same principles," she said. "We both had good parents, good homes and good Christian upbringing."
Both women are natives of Salem and graduates of Andrew Lewis High School - Sturgill in 1962, Daulton in 1971.
Both businesses stay busy most of the year.
Daulton said her busiest times are at Valentine's Day, Mother's Day, prom time, Christmas and all other major holidays, and when she is hired for weddings.
"January is my only slack time," she said.
Sturgill said the tradition of Junes weddings isn't as strong as it once was. Her busiest wedding months are April, May, June, August, September and October.
"And I'm seeing more and more weddings in December and January," she said.
She said her slowest periods are July and November.
Sturgill, a widow with three grown daughters, cautioned that running businesses such as hers and Daulton's is not for the "fainthearted."
Both businesses are risky and time-consuming, she said, requiring the operators "to go an extra mile."
"We get involved not only with our customers but also with their families," Sturgill said. "The bride is my boss."
To reach these businesses, call Your Formal Occasions at 387-3263; Pretty Petal Designs at 389-1107.