AU Florist

Rob stumbled into this business back in the early '80s. He was working part-time at a friend's shop, mostly cleaning and driving. Then one day the regular designer called out sick. Orders were piling up everywhere, his boss was panicking, and Rob just grabbed a knife and made a dozen roses. Shocked everyone, including himself. auflorist
His boss wouldn't let him leave after that. Two years later, Rob opened AU Florist.

That was 1989. The 5 AM alarm still goes off every morning. Rob heads to the wholesale markets, handpicks everything, makes his calls to suppliers. auflorist Most shops just order from catalogs. Rob walks the aisles, checks stems, picks what looks right that day. Always has.

What you'll see when you walk in

Over 70 pieces of art cover these walls. R.C. Gorman paintings first catch your eye, then the 1944 Polish painting from Rob's grandmother. There's vintage Judy Garland magazines customers ask about, and a wooden triangle that one of our regulars painted for us years back.

People settle into the chairs while we work. Sometimes they just watch, sometimes they share their own stories about the pieces on the walls. It's not fancy. It's real.

The designer who knows what Rob's thinking

Rob's lead designer has been here 25 years now. She knows exactly what he's looking for when he's out at the markets. auflorist Valentine's Day and Mother's Day? The whole family shows up. Ten people in the shop, everybody working, everybody exhausted, everybody coming back next year.

Small weddings, no minimums

This is what keeps us busy year-round. Other shops want $5,000 minimums before they'll even talk to you. We just want to make your day special.Rob learned that approach early on from Thomas G. Gentile Funeral Home. They took him under their wing when he was starting out, treated him like family. Same with the operators at Hackensack Hospital who call us by name. Earl Jones Funeral Home too. auflorist These relationships taught Rob how business should work.

The flowers we won't sell

Yesterday's flowers? Rob won't sell them. He'll point you to what came in this morning instead. Always has, always will.
Some florists rotate old stock to the front, mark it down, hope nobody notices. Not here. If it didn't come in fresh, it doesn't go out.

Orders we remember

There's the regular who gets weekly $10 bouquets. Same person who painted that triangle hanging on our wall. There's arrangements for famous relatives, flowers heading to local churches and funeral homes. And then there was that order of sunflowers that ended up on Saturday Night Live.

Mostly though, it's Hackensack families. Births at the hospital. Services at the funeral homes. Small weddings in local venues. Rob's been part of these days for nearly 40 years now.

Why we're still here

It's simple, really. Fresh flowers picked at 5 AM. Fair prices for small weddings and big ones. No selling what shouldn't be sold. The same way Rob's been doing this since 1989.

You can find fancier shops. You can probably find cheaper ones too. But you won't find another place where the owner's been up since 5 AM handpicking your flowers at the market.

That's AU Florist