A small shop that is careful about dates
Nearly everything we sell is for somebody else, on a day that cannot be moved.
Why the date matters more than the flowers
Maabageecha opened in 2018 in a shop on Ameer Ahmed Magu that was previously a tailor.
Almost everything that leaves here is a present for somebody else, and the person who ordered it is usually somewhere else when it arrives. That changes what the job actually is. A beautiful arrangement delivered on the wrong day is a failure. A simple one delivered on the right morning, to somebody who was in, with the right words on the card, is the thing people remember for years.
So the date is the first thing we take and the last thing we check. Orders for a fixed date are written on a board in the workroom and the flowers for them are set aside before the shop opens, not taken from the shelf at four in the afternoon when they are what is left.
The other half of it is honesty about supply. Cut flowers arrive in this country by air, twice a week, and what comes off a flight is not always what was ordered from the grower. We would rather tell you on the day you order that a particular colour is a maybe than send you a photograph afterwards explaining what happened.
The three of us
Fathimath Sausan
Opened the shop in 2018 and still builds most of what leaves it. She is the one who will tell you that the roses this week are not worth you...
Aminath Rifa
Takes the orders, writes the cards out by hand and makes the phone call before a delivery. Her handwriting is on most of the cards that leav...
Hussain Naail
Drives the van and carries the arrangements up. He is the reason a tall arrangement arrives standing rather than lying on its side.
How the day itself works
What time will it arrive?
Between ten in the morning and six in the evening on the date you chose. You pick the day, not the hour.
We ring the person first so that somebody is actually in. If you want it to be a surprise, tell us and we will find a reason to ring that does not give it away.
Where do you deliver and what does it cost?
Malé is 100 rufiyaa, Hulhumalé is 150 and Villimalé is 200 including the ferry. Collection from the shop is free.
We do not deliver to hospital wards, and for an office we deliver before eleven in the morning rather than in the afternoon.
What if the person is not at home?
We ring before we come, so this is rare. If it happens anyway we bring the flowers back to the shop, keep them in water and come again the same day or the next morning at no extra charge.
We do not leave flowers with a neighbour or at a door unless you have told us to.
Come in and look
Ameer Ahmed Magu, Henveiru. Open every day, and busiest on the two mornings after a flower flight.