Bloom OV
9547 Shore Dr., Norfolk
Web: https://bloomov.com/
Andrea Olachia never set out to open a flower shop. She was headed somewhere else entirely: corporate law, New York City and a fast life. But life made other plans.
“In 2021, I had a concussion,” she says. “They found an abnormal growth in my brain… for those two months, I was like, I have to reevaluate my life.”
That growth, which she jokingly calls “Toby,” turned out to be benign. “He’s not a tumor, but totally benign.” Still, the experience forced the then-Navy sailor to reconsider her plans and priorities in life.
She moved to Norfolk and started small before opening Bloom OV, a new sustainable florist in Norfolk’s Ocean View neighborhood.
“All of this was in my house before,” she says. “I had a lot of things in my house.”
But by July 2025, Bloom OV was fully bloomed, just blocks from the beach in Norfolk’s Ocean View neighborhood. “I have been in business for two years. Our grand opening was in July, which is also our third year anniversary.”
“We Look for Weird Flowers”
Bloom OV is no typical grab-and-go florist. Rather than pre-made bouquets, Olachia has created a botanical playground where customers can create their own floral expressions, one stem at a time.
“I always enjoyed arranging flowers for myself,” Olachia says. “I used to live in San Diego. I’d go to the farmer’s market, you know, have my own little Sunday routine.”
What started as a personal habit quickly became something more serious. “We have over 15 flower farms in this area in Hampton Roads,” she says. “I have four farmers that I consistently work with. They’re out of Chesapeake and Suffolk. One’s down in Pungo.”
She says doesn’t place strict orders with her vendors. “I give them a color palette, essentially, and then I just trust what they do. I don’t really dictate, like, ‘Oh, I need lisianthus.’ I just—whatever you got in purple, I’ll take it.” What she looks for are blooms with character. “We look for weird flowers. We look for flowers that you might not have seen at the grocery store.”
The Shop
Inside the shop, the energy is bright and personal. “You can buy by the stem,” she says. “You can gravitate to any of the stems that you want.” Customers can build their own bouquets, or let the staff guide them.
The packaging is also part of the store’s philosophy. “I will offer you a compostable plastic bag with a wet napkin to hold the moisture in,” she explains. “The paper’s compostable, the bags are, and you just put it in your garden.”
Bloom OV even stocks gifts and cards. “I try to keep them flower related, but I am a very sarcastic person,” she says. “We have greeting cards for all occasions. We have divorce, we have birthdays, we have Spanish cards, we have cards geared towards Asian Americans, African Americans.”
Building Community
For Olachia, the flowers are only part of it. “People are so evolutionarily connected to flowers,” she says. “We also have to appeal to their emotions.” And you never know why someone might be walking in. “It could be a celebration, an anniversary. It could be bereavement. It could be… maybe you just want to come and get something to remember them.”
She’s built Bloom OV to be emotionally inclusive, practically generous, and culturally expansive. “The number one goal I have for the store is to build a community through connection,” she says. “Whoever walks in … it could be me, it could be Tiffany, or any of the other workers—and I’m going to treat you like my best friend.”
Olachia brought on two full-time employees – one of whom is a veteran and the other a realtor she met through bar trivia.
“They’re all my friends. I have the best group of friends in the entire world.”
And she’s deeply embedded in the neighborhood now. “I’m the vice president of the Ocean View Business Association,” she says. “I just joined two months ago, and then our vice president stepped down a month ago. I was like, hey, I’m in the middle of a grand opening, but I’ll volunteer to be your vice president.”
Workshops
Workshops are coming soon, with some more quirky than others. “Hopefully, [we’ll] do a Harry Potter themed one soon,” she says. “In August, I want to do two Taylor Swift themed ones.”
And don’t get her started on her opinions about Taylor Swift’s albums. “I love Evermore as much as I love Folklore,” she says. “They go back and forth… I don’t know which I could pick.”
The one thing she can pick, however, is flowers. And her new shop allows customers to find the perfect bouquet for any occasion.
