In the 25 years that Sandy Corbit has been in the flower business, she’s kept to one way of doing things.

“I treat every arrangement like it’s going to somebody I know,” Corbit said. “I tend to always do a little bit extra.”

And that was obvious as she placed white roses in a bouquet that was heading to a funeral service. The order called for just white carnations and mums, but she thought a few roses would make it more special.

Corbit is the owner and sole employee at Flowers D’Amour, 606 Fourth St., in downtown Bremerton. She’s been in that location since just last March but prior to that she had her shop down the block and at First Street and Pacific Avenue. In all, she’s been a downtown merchant for 17 years.

And, while her shop does a steady business, she’s also know as the flower lady who stands at the corner of Fourth Street and Park Avenue with her flower cart on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday afternoons from 3:15 to 4:30 p.m.

“So many shipyard workers come through that gate,” she said. “I’m down there for their convenience. Many of them know me from when I had my shop on First Street. I just want them to know I’m still here.”

Often times she gets comments like, “It’s my anniversary, thanks.” Or, “Oh, today’s my wife’s birthday. You saved me.”

“Sometimes they just get flowers because they want to make their wives smile,” she said.

Her love of flowers, she thinks, came from her dad who grew roses.

“He’d bring one in a put it in a glass for my mom,” she said.

Her shop has all kinds of flowers and gets fresh flowers from wholesalers in Seattle and Tacoma. About 40 percent of her business is wire orders from all across the country, she said. Another 40 percent is local people calling in orders and the other 10 percent is walk-in traffic.

She does everything from funerals, to weddings, to birthday and special occasion bouquets.

Flowers, she said, show more than any other gift can.

“Flowers show love and emotion,” she said. “They say it from the heart. And I’ve never seen anybody frown when they get flowers.”

Much of it may be the element of surprise.

“They really are an economical choice because they last more than just a day, not like candy,” she said. “And every time someone looks at them they feel good and they smile.”

Corbit considers part of her work to educate customers about what kinds of flowers to buy, depending on the message you want to send. And she helps customers know the tricks of the trade to keep the flowers living longer.

“Those are the things you’re not going to get when you pick up flowers at the grocery store,” she said. “You can’t get the care or the quality there that you’ll get at a flower shop.”

Take, for example, the guy who came in for flowers to give to a woman he met online and was meeting in person for their first date.

“He wanted to get red roses, but I steered him away from that,” she said. “I told him that was too much for a first date. And, if he did that, what would he get down the road for the tenth date? You have to work up to roses.”

He settled on a nice bouquet of colorful daisies — a flower that says friendship.

Corbit learned the flower business from a friend who she worked for for several years before the friend decided to get out of the business and Corbit bought her shop. It’s always operated under the name Flowers D’Amour, which means a declaration of love.

“She had a very good designer who trained me,” Corbit said. “I’d done lots of silks, but I really learned my way around fresh flowers then.”

As for working downtown, she loves it.

“I love the people downtown,” she said. “Downtown Bremerton still has that small town flavor. I know all my neighbors. And I’ve been here so long that I pretty much know everybody.”

Her love for downtown Bremerton also has family roots.

When she was a young girl living in Seattle, her father would put her and her siblings on the ferry to Bremerton and they’d spend Saturdays in her grandmother Gladys Corbit’s tailor shop, in the basement of the old YWCA.

“She did a lot of sewing for the service (Navy) guys,” Corbit said of there grandmother. “She sewed their insignias on their uniforms and she’d hem pants and iron shirts.”

Because Corbit works seven days a week, and has seven grown children and grandchildren, she doesn’t get much time to herself. Her work is her hobby and everything else, she said.

But that’s OK with her because she loves what she does.