Donato's Floral

The story starts with Noble Drug in Robbinsdale. Two pharmacists were retiring in 1988 and suggested the Donato family buy the building. Victor Donato was 24 years old with no floral training but incredible natural talent for design. His 21-year-old sister joined him. Their Italian immigrant father backed them, and they opened Donato's Floral.
Perfect timing helped them succeed. Frank, the area's most popular florist, was retiring. He operated across from the hospital, and the entire community was upset about losing him. Everyone wanted to know who these new florists were. The Donatos hired experienced designers who knew what they were doing, learning from them while Victor developed his natural eye into real expertise.

By 2014, Donato's had expanded to two locations in Crystal and Maple Grove. Then February 25th arrived. Victor died of a heart attack at 51. Anna (Victors sister) had already talked to him about leaving to join her husband's catering business, letting Victor and his wife take over completely. Instead, Anna stayed and kept Victor's dream alive.

The next Valentine's Day brought an extraordinary moment. An elderly man, probably in his seventies or eighties, walked in with a gift certificate from 1991, signed by Victor Donato from their original Crystal location. It said "no expiration date, not redeemable for cash." The man explained he got it through St. Joseph's Catholic Church program, where parishioners help clear estates of people who pass without family. His wife had told him to keep it because she knew the Donatos. After 29 years, there he stood with Victor's signature on a certificate worth $15.50, which would have bought a dozen roses back then. We gave him the flowers. We hugged him. We still have that certificate.

This year brought another Victor moment. His niece Juliana got married in Italy. Victor had done flowers for every family wedding. Juliana desperately wanted her uncle's flowers even though he was gone. So we closed the store and brought three designers to Italy. We paid for their Airbnb; they bought their flights. American Airlines delayed them two days. Juliana had wisely hired Italian florists for the ceremony, but we made her bouquet and several special pieces. Victor's presence was there through our work.

Our approach comes from Victor's philosophy about customer service. He believed in going beyond expectations until customers left amazed. We read every card to understand what you're really sending. We call customers when substitutions might change the meaning. If someone orders bright celebratory flowers but the card mentions sympathy, we call to confirm. When star gazer lilies aren't available and the customer specifically needs them, we're honest about it.

Today, our team continues what Victor started. Angie Zeger, Maria Donato, and Melanie Fegerstrom lead our design work. We support Whizbang Days in Robbinsdale and Maple Grove Days ambassador scholarship programs, which were Victor's favorite community involvement. We donate to PRISM food shelf in Crystal-Robbinsdale and CROSS in Maple Grove.

We work with Boston Scientific, North Memorial Hospitals in Robbinsdale and Maple Grove, and numerous churches and funeral homes. Pet hospitals throughout the area trust us for their sympathy arrangements. The Minnesota Twins organization uses us for their hospitality needs, particularly for occasions like bereavements and celebrations.

Our warehouse space next to the Keller Williams building might not look like a traditional flower shop; however inside, designers spend hours creating exactly what customers need, whether that's carefully arranging special roses for someone waiting or incorporating personal items into funeral tributes.

Victor founded this shop. We run it with his standards, serving our community the way he taught us: personally, carefully, and with genuine attention to what each customer actually needs.