Miriam Cordero likes everything about flowers. This is a good thing, because Cordero’s business is flowers. Three years ago, she launched Mili’s Flower Truck and will open Mili’s Flowers & Gifts in the Crosstown Concourse in the spring.
Miriam Cordero likes everything about flowers.
“Everything — the color, texture, the smell,” she said. “They are so unique and beautiful. I can’t say no to any kind of flower.”
This is a good thing, because Cordero’s business is flowers. Three years ago, she launched Mili’s Flower Truck and will open Mili’s Flowers & Gifts in the Crosstown Concourse in the spring.
Cordero said that her new space is a particularly good fit for Mili’s, with the Concourse’s frequent events and diverse community.
“I think it’s a great community,” she said. “The name already says it: this is across town. It’s across everything.”
The truck was originally launched because it satisfied two passions.
Cordero’s husband has a thing for Volkswagens, while she, of course, is into flowers. They looked for a truck and worked about a year on getting it ready. At first, the plan was to run the truck during the week, but Cordero found that her sales didn’t call for that. So now, she restricts the truck to the weekends, with regular stops at Saddle Creek and Overton Square.
Mili’s Flowers & Gifts will include gift items from Cordero’s native Mexico, including Milagros (charms), Alebrijes (sculptures), and sugar skulls.
“For Christmas, I sell Nativities painted by hand or made with corn husk — natural materials and bright colors. My culture is very colorful,” she said.
Cordero, who works with artists from Mexico, has been selling such items at various artist markets around town.
The Concourse space is 688 square feet and is in the former site of the Cheryl Pesce Lifestyle Store in the Concourse’s West Retail Corridor.
“One side of the store is going to be the display of Mexican products, and the other wall is going to be the flowers,” Cordero said. “We want to have something ready. You just stop by and get it and go. Or, you can stop by and build your own bouquet.”
Cordero said she had been looking for a spot to establish a brick and mortar. Some spaces didn’t work out. A friend alerted her to the empty Concourse spot and Cordero contacted her realtor. The two parties liked each other immediately.
The plan for now is to continue to run the flower truck.
“That was part of the deal,” Cordero said. “On the weekends, we’re going out on the truck.”
