Gary Angus sells flowers at Jaeger Florist in Irvington.
He has been selling them from the same spot on Springfield Avenue for 19 years, gathering premium accounts with FTD and 1-800-Flowers, commercial relationships with NJIT, City Hall and the local fire station — and a customer satisfaction rating that has hovered near 100 percent.
On a recent Saturday, he was offering his product inside American Dream, at a market designed to give small businesses a piece of the World Cup economic boom.
It’s been a tough sell.
“People are really caught up right now for the game,” Angus said. “They’re all focused on the football. But after the game, they usually come back — and after they wind down, especially if they win, they want to celebrate with flowers.”
Angus said he’s good either way.
His time at La Plaza de Futbol is not about the matches going on at the stadium next store, he said. It’s about playing the long game.
The economic development leaders in Irvington feel the same way.
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La Plaza de Futbol was announced with considerable ambition.
The initiative, run by the N.J. Small Business Growth Council in partnership with American Dream, was designed to give roughly 1,000 small businesses a chance to showcase their products and services to World Cup visitors over the tournament’s 39-day run.
Organizers hoped booths near restaurant row at Court A, near the Jarana restaurant, would offer a platform to let small businesses claim a small slice of the multi-billion-dollar economic boom expected to accompany the tournament.
The reality has been more complicated.
Logistical challenges — including simply getting full approval of vendors — have limited the opportunity, so the market operates only on game days.
Then there’s this: Fans heading to MetLife can’t bring purchases into the stadium. So, for most vendors, the window to sell is narrow. The foot traffic has been harder to convert than expected.
Irvington’s leaders are OK with this.
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Irvington didn’t stumble into La Plaza. They organized for it.
Through the township’s Urban Enterprise Zone and the Economic Development Department, Mayor Tony Voss secured a grant to bring more than a dozen local businesses to American Dream for the duration of the tournament.
Deborah Rochford, Irvington’s new bilingual economic development coordinator — about six weeks into the job — has been the point person, walking businesses through the process and showing up alongside them on game days.
“We’ve been going out to different businesses to see what they need, how we can help them,” she said. “The mayor is trying to build a better relationship with the small businesses. So, I’m there, present — literally walking into the business and talking to them.”
For many of those businesses, this is the first time they have operated outside of Irvington. That alone, Rochford and Angus said, makes it worth it.
“This is where the world comes to watch the party and major events,” Angus said. “It’s American Dream. It makes no sense not to be here.”
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There are only three more matches left at MetLife Stadium, including this evening, when Brazil plays Sweden.
Angus knows fans on their way to a match aren’t stopping to buy a bouquet. He also knows one nation will have a big win.
“They may want to celebrate with flowers,” he said.
But he knows this opportunity is about more than just one match or one tournament.
His wife, Winsome, the operational manager of Jaeger Flowers, knows it, too. That’s how they’ve built the store into one of the more decorated independent florists in the region.
Just one that’s not well known outside of Irvington.
This was a chance to start that process. Angus knows it will lead to others. That’s why he views this effort as a win.
“It’s the World Cup,” he said. “It doesn’t get any bigger. We’re happy to be a part of it.”
