Growing Cambria floral business opens new shop that offers more than flowers

Pam Jump and Maira Arellanos, who met and bonded in 2015 as drug store co-workers, have joined forces to open a new shop, Cambria Flowers and Inspirations.

The Cambria women opened in April at 719 Main St., Suite A, which had for 18 years been the home of Flying Fuzzies needlepoint and needlework boutique.

Cambria Inspirations carries an assortment of gifts, accessories, clothing, home décor, essential oils and aromatherapy, jewelry and, of course, plants, flowers, flower arrangements and table décor for homes, restaurants and other businesses. For $5, they’ll deliver to customers in Cambria and San Simeon.

Jump, 69, is the partnership’s senior member and florist. She’s been a Cambria resident for close to six years, and in that time has worked at Hearst Castle, a wine-tasting room and the town’s pharmacy. But her first love is flowers.

“I’ve worked as a florist since 1975, from Santa Barbara to Cambria,” she said.

Arellanos, who is 27 years old, moved to Cambria from Orange County 17 years ago with her family. She, too, has accumulated a variety of professional experiences, at Cambria’s bakery and the pharmacy and as the front desk manager at a resort hotel, where she still works.

Arellanos said her experience “always was in the hospitality business, or in customer service,” which helped prepare her for her new role as the shop’s marketing manager, specializing in social media.

In 2017, the women partnered up for a floral business in Jump’s garage, emphasizing weddings. But last summer, when the business vastly outgrew the space available, “we decided we need a house and a cooler,” at least, Jump said. They moved into a Main Street location that also proved to be too small.

Then, when longtime Cambrian Sharon Harvey decided to close her Flying Fuzzies shop and retire, the floral partners rented that space from her.

For details on Cambria Inspirations, go to cambriaflowers.com or call 805-395-7003. The shop is open Monday through Saturday from 10:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.