Turning a retirement plan into a life plan

In 2021, Kevin Lavigne and Patrick Blanchette turned a retirement idea into a lifelong project by purchasing a florist’s shop. Despite having no experience in retail just yet, they saw this as an opportunity to bring their passion for florals to life through Lavigne Fleuriste de quartier. From day one, they had Lightspeed to support them on their journey, and opened a second location in October of 2024.

The goal was to modernize the florist shop by focusing on local products, while keeping their offerings accessible to the community. Just in time for Mother’s Day, the business opened its doors and quickly became a staple of the neighbourhood—a sentiment that continues to be celebrated by the community.

Strategic purchasing management to maintain affordable prices

To optimize its operations, the company relied on Lightspeed to manage its inventory, minimize costs and maintain affordable prices. Lightspeed’s reports provide accurate tracking of purchases and expenses, helping the team compare suppliers and evaluate their performance. This valuable information allows them to make better purchasing decisions and forecasts, especially for peak periods such as Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day. Using Lightspeed, the business can also easily sync and manage inventory across both stores.

“We can easily compare because we have all the information in one place, which allows us to make better selections and forecasts, resulting in fewer losses,” explains Samuel Tozzi, Director of Operations.

Thanks to Lightspeed’s data, the team can ensure they have the right amount of stock on-hand, and feel confident that they’re making profitable decisions for their business.

Increasing their brand presence through ecommerce

Lavigne runs their website on Lightspeed, and has done so since day one. Owners Kevin and Patrick designed it themselves using the platform’s templates, which they customized to their liking.

The process was simple; when they wanted to add a blog to their site, for example, all they had to do was search for the feature within Lightspeed, and they set it up with ease. Integrating the site with their in-store POS system was just as straightforward.

The website has proven to be a powerful tool for reaching customers beyond their neighborhood, while also centralizing their sales and inventory in just one place.

Dreaming big with Lightspeed

Lavigne has big ambitions: the business aspires to become a benchmark in horticulture and floristry in Montreal. The owners are on the lookout for new opportunities to open other branches, and they are confident that Lightspeed will be an essential partner in this expansion.

That’s why the owners chose Lightspeed from the start. “We could see how Lightspeed could support us every step of the way and make it easier to create our website, manage inventory and handle checkout,” says Tozzi.

The system is already central to their success, and they know that as they grow, they’ll be able to use even more of its features.