The Columbus Blue Jackets are excited to partner with First Merchants Bank to recognize small businesses in our community. Each month throughout the season, one company will be featured as the Small Business of the Month presented by First Merchants Bank. October’s Small Business of the Month is De Santis Florists.

If you go to De Santis Florists, you know you’re going to work with a De Santis.

Open since 1927, it’s a fourth-generation small business located in the northwest side of Columbus on Kenny Road, and every day Matt De Santis has to opportunity to go to work alongside his daughter, Caroline.

“I’m so proud that I have a child that’s doing the same thing I do,” Matt said. “It makes it special. We’re right next to each other, just like I was with my dad. I worked across from my dad for probably 20 years.”

Not that Caroline exactly expected things to turn out that way.

“It’s pretty crazy,” Caroline said. “If you asked me when I was younger, I would have said no way, but now I love it and I can’t imagine working anywhere else. When I was in high school, that’s when I really started to work there, and now I just can’t see myself doing anything else. I took over the wedding aspect of everything, and I love it.”

While Caroline noted wedding arrangements are her favorite part of the job, De Santis offers flowers for any circumstance. In addition to wedding bouquets, centerpieces and other services, De Santis offers sympathy flowers for funerals, bouquets for occasions such as birthdays, anniversaries and more, as well as congratulatory pieces for such occasions as graduations and newborn babies. The company also offers same-day delivery throughout the Columbus area.

The chance to be creative is the best part of the job, Caroline said, and it’s clearly working. The shop has long been a trusted source for Columbus residents for floral needs, with the business’s 100th anniversary just a few years away.

“We’re pushing for that 100, that’s for sure,” Matt said.

Recognized as the First Merchants Small Business of the Month for October, De Santis staff members were able to attend and be recognized at the Blue Jackets’ game Oct. 28 against Edmonton.

“It’s been incredible,” Caroline said. “Everybody has been so welcoming. We love the Jackets, so it’s been pretty cool just how nice everything has been.”