New flower shop brings European flair, custom bouquets to downtown SLO

There’s a new flower shop in town.

Scarborough Affair opened its brick-and-mortar shop on 975 Osos St. in San Luis Obispo in August, bringing in a wave of colorful flowers, plants and botanicals to the historic building.

The address was formerly home to Pembrooke Creative, a graphic design studio.

“The overall ambience that I’ve created, I feel like it’s really timeless, romantic and really intentional, and I’ve made a huge point to kind of curate everything that’s in here to really make it something special and a unique experience,” owner Laura Ellen told The Tribune. “And I had a few people come in and they’re like, ‘Oh, wow. I feel like I’m in London somewhere,’ you know. So I’m like, it’s working.”

The flower shop offers arrangements for weddings and special events, a boutique to shop high-end pots and candles and flower delivery, according to its website.

Ellen started selling flowers in 2019 in San Francisco out of her landlady’s garage. She would source flowers from the city’s large flower market until the pandemic hit.

Ellen relocated to Dallas in 2020 with her husband Marc Grant and found challenges in sourcing flowers in a larger city, where the markets were far and few between, Ellen said.

“When I would do these homes, I would have to preorder a lot of the flowers from Holland, if I couldn’t get specialty flowers there,” Ellen said. “They don’t really grow flowers in Texas like they do here.”

After living in Texas for four years, Ellen and Grant moved back to California and chose to settle on the Central Coast.

The reason? Ellen said she had a vision of transforming the Osos Street spot with a Parisian general store ambiance, where customers felt as though they traveled across the globe upon entering.

“It’s historic — I love the brick outside, I love the dental molding and all the details on the ceiling, the huge window,” Ellen said. “I’m like, this could really be something. I was looking at a spot on Higuera, and that could have been busier, but I didn’t think it would have the same vibe.”

Flower shop had pop-up collaboration with downtown SLO restaurant

While its grand opening was in August Ellen said its pop-up collaboration with restaurant Nate’s on Marsh on Dec. 7 was more successful, calling it her “best day yet.”

“It was packed in here,” she said. “People seemed to really love it. I think we’ll do another one in the spring.”

Nate’s on Marsh merchandise was also available on the green shelves alongside Ellen’s arrangements and clay and ceramic pots.

“Laura has impeccable taste, and I feel that her eye aligns with what we envision here at Nate’s on Marsh: classic European fare with elevated arrangements,” Nathan Long, owner of Nate’s on Marsh said.

Where did Scarborough Affair name come from?

Named after the Simon and Garfunkel song “Scarborough Fair/Canticle,” Ellen’s dad recommended the shop’s name, and Ellen changed the “fair” in the song to “affair” to signify that she does events and weddings, she said.

“It has that old kind of romantic, timeless vibe that I like, so that really resonated with me,” she said.

Scarborough Affair was offering three color palettes this winter: peach mistletoe, sugarberry delight and dewdrop white to build its bouquets. Those vary in price from $35 to $65, according to Ellen.

Ellen said she sources most of her flowers from her connections with vendors in San Francisco, but plans to work with Arroyo-Grande-based Farmermaid Flowers, even hoping to host a bulb-planting workshop with the grower in the spring.

For more information

Scarborough Affair is on 975 Osos St. in San Luis Obispo.

It is open Wednesday to Friday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

The flower shop is also open for deliveries Monday through Sunday.

For more information, visit scarboroughaffair.com or call 805-305-4239.