Knowing how market-fresh flowers can transform a home, Tina Heffer had always wanted to make them available in Te Awamutu. But she was wary of the risks of buying and selling a fresh product. “You have to be careful selling fresh flowers,” she says. “If they don’t sell, it ends up as waste.”

However, opening the doors to her shop, The Birdcage, was a move well worth making. Heffer always sells out on market days: “People who never used to buy fresh flowers come in every week to buy them,” she says. As well as homewares, design books, clothing, shoes, candles, skincare, vases and ceramics, The Birdcage also supplies flowers for local weddings. “It’s an eclectic mix,” says Heffer.