Marine Florists

Some flower errands need a shop that has already done the same thing ten thousand times. Marine Florists has been selling flowers on the line between Flatlands and Marine Park since 1898, has been run by the same family since 1987, and works out of a building of some 14,000 square feet — big enough that what you need today is usually already standing in a cooler instead of being ordered in.

What people come here for

Most of the counter traffic is ordinary south Brooklyn life handled properly: birthdays and anniversaries, a new baby, a get-well arrangement, graduations and proms, and the two dates that decide a florist’s year in this city — Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day, which the family names as its busiest stretch of all. Weddings and private events are taken on as well, and they are talked through in person rather than filled out on a form.

The shop also carries the kind of standing work a century-old neighborhood business accumulates: the parish church directly opposite has been a client for years, and sympathy arrangements go out to funeral homes and to nursing homes on the daily route.

Delivery and same-day orders

This is where the shop is unusually specific, and it is worth reading before you order. Same-day delivery covers all of Brooklyn if the order is in by mid-afternoon on a weekday, and by midday on Saturday or Sunday — the weekend cut-off is the earlier one and the one people miss. Queens is normally a next-day borough, but a call in the late morning can turn it into a same-day run if the route allows.

Manhattan, Staten Island, the Bronx and Long Island are handled as scheduled deliveries for a chosen date rather than as today’s emergency, which is a straighter answer than most shops give. Hospitals and nursing homes are regular stops rather than an experiment. If you are close by, collecting the arrangement at the counter is the fastest route of all, and you see it before it goes anywhere.

What stands out

• A business that predates the neighborhood. It began in 1898 as a tiny seed store when this part of Brooklyn was still farmland.
• Four brothers at the wheel. The Tsentzelis brothers took the shop over in 1987 after learning the trade in Bensonhurst, and a nephew is already the next generation in the business.
• Three walk-in coolers. Cold storage on a scale most storefronts do not have, kept near 38°F, with fourteen varieties of rose alone.
• An honest delivery map. Same-day, next-day and scheduled-only areas are spelled out by borough instead of being promised across the board.
• A real retail floor. Not a counter and a phone: a full sales floor plus a basement workroom where custom pieces are built.
• Someone from the family is always in. The shop makes a point that one of the brothers is on the premises whenever the doors are open.

Where the flowers come from

In a local-press profile the family said fresh stock arrives daily, with Holland, Ecuador and South America named as the sources, and that everything goes straight into the walk-in coolers held at around 38°F. That is more than most Brooklyn shops put on the record, and it explains the volume: a shop this size buys and turns over stock as a wholesale customer, not in single boxes.

The shop, the service and what else is sold

The main floor works as a proper gift shop as well as a florist — house plants, greeting cards, boxed chocolates, balloons and soft toys sit alongside the cut flowers, so a single stop covers the whole errand. Custom work is assembled downstairs, and staff will build to your description rather than point you at a catalog. The website takes orders around the clock, but anything unusual — an odd venue, a specific colour, a timed drop-off — is quicker to settle by phone.

When to come and how to get there

The shop sits at the point where Flatlands runs into Marine Park, on the main southbound artery of that corner of Brooklyn, a short drive from Kings Plaza; there is no subway to speak of here, so it is a bus or a car, and parking is far easier than anywhere in the north of the borough. February and the first half of May are the weeks when everything in this trade gets booked out in advance — for a wedding or a large event order in those windows, count in weeks, not days.

Questions and answers

Can I get flowers delivered anywhere in Brooklyn today?

Yes, if the order is placed by mid-afternoon on a weekday. On Saturday and Sunday the same-day cut-off is around midday, so weekend errands need an earlier start.

Do they deliver outside Brooklyn?

Queens is usually next-day, though a late-morning call can sometimes get it onto today’s route. Manhattan, Staten Island, the Bronx and Long Island are booked for a future date rather than same-day.

Can I collect the order myself?

Yes. Pickup at the shop is the quickest option if you are in the south-east of the borough, and it lets you check the arrangement before it travels.

Do they deliver to hospitals and nursing homes?

They do, as routine. Have the recipient’s full name and room or floor ready, since that is what the front desk will ask for.

Do they do weddings?

Yes, along with private events. Bring the date, the venue and the palette, and expect a conversation rather than an online form.

How far ahead should I order for Mother’s Day or Valentine’s Day?

A week is comfortable, a couple of days is tight, and the day itself means choosing from what is left. Those two dates are the shop’s heaviest of the year.

Is there anything besides flowers?

Plants, cards, chocolates, balloons and soft toys are all on the floor, which is the practical reason people use this shop for gifts that need to be assembled in one stop.

Opening hours