The only work at the Blue Iris Flower Shop on Monday would be to secure what's left after an early morning fire on Frederick Road.
A devoted customer, Michelle Dwyer, showed up to offer her support.
"I just got married last April and I worked above the flower shop so I would be upstairs in my office and I would come downstairs to check on the bouquet," Dwyer said.
Firefighters responded to a call of smoke pouring out of the building just before 6 a.m. Monday.
"When they arrived they found smoke inside and subsequently requested a second alarm assignment," Lt. Tim Rostkowski of the Baltimore County Fire Department said. "There were no injuries reported and nobody was reported inside at the time the fire occurred."
Dwyer says the young owner had just sunk more money into the business, which first opened here back in 1967.
"Well, they just renovated... just a few months ago they expanded, because the office that I used to work for---they just left and they expanded the flower shop so that's the part that's real hard," Dwyer said.
The fire comes little more than a week before Valentine's Day when florists can make up to 40 percent of their holiday sales for the year.
On Facebook, the Blue Iris owner expressed her thanks to supportive customers and has vowed to reopen at a temporary location as soon as possible.
There's also a Go Fund Me page called Support Blue Iris Flowers to help raise money to rebuild and to keep its employees afloat.
"Considering the tragedy that Ellicott City just faced with the flood and everything, this is just another sad thing to see, because all of these buildings are old and historic and you want to keep them the way they were,” Dwyer said. “They want to preserve them so it's a bummer to see them."
It appears the fire may have started in the basement, but it will take some time to complete an investigation into what started it.
