GardeLina Flowers

Sheikh’s journey to flowers began unexpectedly, shaped by years of hard work, family tradition, and a search for something more meaningful. Around 1981, when he was maybe 19 or 20 years old, he and his brother opened what he calls the first jewelry shop in Islamabad, Pakistan's capital. By 1988, he had moved to Manhattan, buying a David's Cookies franchise on 63rd Street between Lexington and Third Avenue for somewhere around 70,000 or 80,000 dollars. When the chain went under in 1991, he lost significant money and moved to Virginia.

The path from jeweler to cookie shop owner to car dealer to florist follows family tradition. Sheikh comes from a business family with five brothers, each running their own enterprise. One brother runs the jewelry shop in Pakistan. Another has a restaurant called Aladdin outside Houston. There is a furniture store in Toronto and a grocery store elsewhere. As Sheikh puts it, they do not work for other people.

But the car dealership troubled him. As a Muslim, Sheikh does not believe in charging or paying interest. The dealership relied on loans and financing. Worse, it required deception, buying cars from auction for ten thousand and selling for fourteen or fifteen thousand, lying about mileage and condition. His father, who died at ninety-two after traveling the world, constantly told him to leave that business.

The flower-shop opportunity came in 2015. Sheikh’s wife had worked as a florist for 18 or 19 years while their kids were young, taking seasonal work during Valentine’s Day, Christmas, and Mother’s Day. When she heard the shop in the mall was for sale, she convinced Sheikh to buy it. He sold his share of the car dealership to his partner and started over.

At first, Sheikh only handled deliveries while his wife designed. Then he decided to learn the craft. He took classes in Arlington for a couple of weeks, though the full course lasted a month. His wife taught him the rest. The reviews have been positive ever since.

The work nearly killed him. On February 14, 2023, around four in the morning after working 18 or 19 hours straight, Sheikh had a heart attack. His daughter found him collapsed when she came outside around 4:30 a.m. The ambulance rushed him to Fairfax Hospital. Doctors found 80 to 85 percent blockage in his veins, a genetic condition common in his family. His father, brothers, and uncles all had heart attacks. Sheikh underwent open-heart surgery on the 15th or 16th of April 2023 and spent about three months recovering.

The shop reflects its owner’s values. When customers are not satisfied, Sheikh does not calculate partial refunds. He sends new arrangements. This approach maintains perfect reviews but goes deeper than business strategy. It connects to his broader philosophy of charity, sending money to Palestine, to hospitals, and to the Adams Center mosque that grew from one small building to several locations across Northern Virginia in twenty years.

The numbers tell one story: ten to fifteen orders daily in an increasingly quiet mall. But the real story lives in relationships. Tommy Lusk, described as a helpful American friend, moved to the mountains but still helps during busy seasons, driving from where his family lives in Sterling. A Jordanian florist who once helped during holidays found permanent work elsewhere. Sheikh’s daughter helps with photos and online tasks when she visits from California.

When Sheikh’s son got married in San Jose, the shop closed for several days. No backup plan, no temporary staff. Some businesses cannot be delegated. Some transformations like going from jeweler to florist, from deception to honesty, from heart attack to recovery, require personal presence.

The shop continues, one arrangement at a time, proving his father was right: better to work with flowers than lies.