Business is blooming for a local florist.

Last week, the staff of Julia’s Florist finished moving part of the firm’s operations into a new design center.

Julia’s Florist has operated at 900 S. Kerr Ave. in Wilmington since 1996, said Dana Cook, who bought the business in 2008.

The business will continue to have its main retail base in about 2,800 square feet at 900 S. Kerr, but with the addition of the Julia's Florist design center, located in about 2,200 square feet in Crossroads, a shopping center also on South Kerr Avenue and just across Wilshire Boulevard from the main store.

“We were running out of room, and after Mother’s Day this year, it was very clear to me that I needed to find additional space,” Cook said Monday.

The flurry of flowers and gifts ordered yearly for Valentine's Day and Mother's Day make them the busiest holidays for Julia’s Florist, Cook said.

She used to have to temporarily lease space in Crossroads to accommodate the increase in business around those holidays, as well as rent two, 23-foot refrigerated trucks.

But the new design center includes a large design room, photography room, quality control room, a 10-by-15-foot cooler, a loading dock and an area where customers can design their own items (for a bride, for example, who wants to make her own reception centerpieces).

The retail store and design center are connected via a video-conferencing system to allow Julia's Florist employees to maintain communications. Cook’s staff has grown from nine full-time employees in 2008 to about 15 now, she said, and sales continue to increase each year. Most of the store’s business comes from customers who need flowers for special occasions, Cook said.

Now that the design center is open, she plans to expand the retail space, including the gift items and grab-and-go arrangement selection, at 900 S. Kerr Ave., said Cook, who leased the design center space for an undisclosed amount from the owner, Landmark Commercial Inc.