Our story · Albox, Almería, Spain

A family flower shop in Albox, Spain. Since 1975.

My parents, Maricarmen and Paco, opened it in November 1975, in the middle of the town fair. Today I run it with my sister Mari Carmen, on the same street. If you are about to send flowers to someone in Spain, I would like you to know who will be making them. This is our story, year by year.

José Antonio · Calle Poeta José Antonio Sáez, 2 · 04800 Albox, Almería · south-east Spain

José Antonio at the door of the Persa flower shop in Albox
Me, at the shop door. Albox, 2026.
  1. 1973The floods

    My family needed a second income

    The river Almanzora flooded our valley, and my father's mechanical workshop with it. At home, with young children, another income was needed. My mother wanted to open something Albox did not have yet: she weighed a dry-cleaner's against a flower shop, and chose flowers. Neither of them knew how to make a bouquet.

    "I wanted a business that didn't exist in Albox."My mother, Maricarmen Sánchez, speaking to Diario de Almería, 19 October 2026
  2. 1975The shop opens

    November: just in time for the Albox fair

    The town fair falls on All Saints' Day, 1 November, which together with Valentine's Day is the busiest date of the year for any florist in Spain. My mother spent days at the fair in Lorca, a larger town an hour away, watching how wreaths were built so she could learn.

    For the first few years the shop was our living room. My parents drove to Murcia before dawn to buy flowers, then came back to make up the orders.

    Paco and Maricarmen, founders of Persa Flores, with the Albox town council's award for the shop's business record
    My parents, Paco and Maricarmen, in the workshop in 2026, with the award the Albox town council gave the shop for its years in business. Foto: Javier Alonso / Diario de Almería
  3. 1980sThe fair years

    From the town fair to the bouquets for the fair queens

    They ended up doing all the floral decoration for the Albox fair, including the bouquets carried by the fair queens. The shop put down roots in the Almanzora valley and became the town's florist: the one for weddings, saints' days and birthdays across the district. I grew up among those flowers.

    The Persa family in 1986: Maricarmen and Paco with their six children, in the family living room
    My family in 1986: my parents and the six of us. I am the youngest, on my father's lap.
  4. 2006The handover

    The youngest of six keeps the shop

    Almost twenty years ago my parents handed me the shop. Today I run it with my sister Mari Carmen, who makes bouquets alongside me. A sister-in-law makes the scented candles you can add to an order. Still a family, still on the same street: Calle Poeta José Antonio Sáez, 2.

  5. 2020The online shop

    A website built by the family, no agency

    When the pandemic closed everything, my cousin suggested we sell online. Neither of us knew how to build a website. We made it from scratch, from tutorials, fixing our own mistakes as we went. For months not a single order came in. Then the first one did, and since then bouquets have been leaving Albox for addresses across mainland Spain.

  6. 2026Today

    The same shop, with customers around the world

    Today almost half of our online orders are paid for from outside Spain, mostly from the UK, the US and Germany: people who live far away and have a mother, a partner or a friend here. Red roses, our most requested flower, reach us from Ecuador through our suppliers. And this is how we work so that your bouquet arrives the way it left the workshop.

    José Antonio photographing a bouquet in front of the Persa Flores shop window before it leaves
    The photo before it leaves: every bouquet, in front of the shop window, before it goes into its box. Foto: Javier Alonso / Diario de Almería

    I photograph it before it leaves

    I take every bouquet outside, photograph it in front of the shop and we send you the picture. You see the real bouquet, not a catalogue image.

    We answer in your language

    Write to us in English, German or French and you will get a reply in your language. Many of our customers do not speak Spanish, and we would rather make it easy.

    If something goes wrong, we put it right

    If a bouquet does not arrive through our fault or the courier's, we send another at no cost. If it arrives later than planned, we add a gift. We are human, and we would rather own up to it. Read our guarantee.

    Water in the carton, the bouquet in its box

    There is no mystery to the rest. You choose the flowers, write the card message and pick the delivery date in the cart. We take care of everything else.

    Bouquet photographed in front of the shop before leaving · Madrid
    Sent to Madrid
    Bouquet photographed in front of the shop before leaving · Madrid
    Sent to Madrid
    Bouquet photographed in front of the shop before leaving · Algeciras
    Sent to Algeciras
    Bouquet photographed in front of the shop before leaving · San Sebastián
    Sent to San Sebastián

    Thank you for reading this far.

    José Antonio

    Persa Flores · Calle Poeta José Antonio Sáez, 2 · 04800 Albox, Almería, Spain

What the press has said about us

In October 2026, Almería's daily newspaper and a national radio show came to see the shop.

Diario de Almería · 19 October 2026

The Albox florist that sells bouquets around the world and wins customers through ChatGPT

A feature by Paula Bolaños with photographs by Javier Alonso, after a morning in the workshop with my parents, my sister and me. In Spanish.

Onda Cero · "Más de uno" · 19 October 2026

Live on national radio

Spain's Onda Cero called the shop the morning the article came out and I told the story on air.

The bouquets are still made here, by hand.

Choose a bouquet, write your card message and pick the delivery date in the cart. We make it in Albox and photograph it before it leaves.

Shop bouquets