‘The Summer I Turned Pretty’ filming in Wilmington, local florist featured

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — The film industry invests millions of dollars in North Carolina annually and film projects also help local business owners.   

WWAY visited with one local business on Friday who’s getting quite a boost by renting out her space to a film project. 

Flora Verdi is a florist near downtown Wilmington. It sits on the corner of Princess and 8th streets. The owner hopes to see her business booming after making an appearance on a popular Amazon Prime show. 

The Summer I Turned Pretty is currently filming season three. The show is currently using Flora Verdi as a filming location. 

Maria Cholanian is the owner of Flora Verdi. She said she was approached about her business around a month ago. Since then, set workers have totally redesigned her shop giving it a coastal look and feel that the show is known for. 

“I just hope I get to keep the furniture. It looks like TJ Maxx but better,” Cholanian said. 

She said this will be great for her business and others in the Cape Fear. 

“I’ve realized, you know, with their presence and with their generosity financially to me. That they’re around town and they’re doing this for many businesses,” Cholanian said. 

Cholanian said this opportunity came just at the right time for her business. She was recently out of work due to sickness. 

“They hit me at a time when I suffered with COVID for an entire month and fairly recently. So, I was kind of on the edge of a very scary time,” Cholanian said. 

She hopes to see an increase in customers, or even just visitors, after making her big debut in the film industry. She said she knows film lovers enjoy traveling to Wilmington to see filming locations in person. She said she hopes her business will be next on their sightseeing list. 

Cholanian said at one point there were up to 50 people in her shop. She said it really shows how many people behind the scenes are involved. She said “film truly does equal jobs.”