Pop-up entrepreneurs: History behind San Antonio's flower vault

How one couple turned carefully curated photos into a family business

SAN ANTONIO – Last year, Sarah and Robbie Forrest were driving along a stretch of Interstate 10 when they saw a mural they liked.

They pulled over and took a photo of their daughter against it, with the busy interstate just yards away. 

That's when their idea for Flower Vault was born. 

"I thought it would be nice to have somewhere where you don't have to get in front of the cars whizzing by or be outside," Sarah said. 

In March 2018, they opened Flower Vault in Stone Oak and eventually a second location in Houston. Now, to close out the year, they are back in San Antonio with a Christmas-themed pop up located at The Rim. 

"Everyone loves Christmas," she said. "This location is awesome because there's lots of fun things to do, places to eat." 

The idea behind Flower Vault was simple: a space divided up into multiple rooms with various backdrops (mostly flowers) for bloggers, social media influencers or anyone else who wanted to take a photo with a fun back drop for their social media feeds. It is a place to let their creativity blossom. 

The intended target audience was on the mark but what they didn't expect was a bit of an evolution of their customer base.

"We were interested in how it changed a little bit," said Robbie. "Maybe being not so much about social media...but a lot of people coming for family stuff, which is cool because we are about family too."

Their deep family values are evident to anyone who visits Flower Vault or follows their Instagram account. Always in tow are daughter Olivia and son Mel. Being owners of their own small business while being parents, they said, is nice, but a learning curve. 

"It's awesome because we can do a lot together, but having two kids doing it all with us definitely slows us down," Sarah said. "But it's definitely fun to be able to do it all together."

Robbie echoed that sentiment.

"We are still trying to figure out how to get the hours working, spend time together," he said. "I mean they are with us all the time, but it's just quality time versus work time is different." 

The Forrests weren't always business owners. They both previously worked overseas and prior to Flower Vault's first launch, Robbie worked for an online education company. Their advice is two-fold: listen to podcasts and don't be afraid to try. 

"It's been such a big blessing to be together as a family in our business and I think a lot of people out there want that, they just need to try it " Robbie said. "Even if you don't know how to do it, you can figure it out."

As for 2019, it seems as though things will come up roses for the future of Flower Vault. They have more locations coming in "a couple" different Texas cities. 

For information on Flower Vault, click here


About the Authors:

Tiffany Huertas is a reporter for KSAT 12 known for her in-depth storytelling and her involvement with the community.