If you've ever searched online for flowers in Brandon, Manitoba, you've probably come across both The BloomBox and Bloomex. And yes, we know the names can be confusing.

Despite the similarity, The BloomBox and Bloomex are completely separate businesses. The BloomBox is an independently owned flower shop located right here in Brandon. Every floral arrangement featured on our website is created and photographed in our shop, and we deliver our own flowers throughout Brandon and the surrounding area.

The similarity in our names has caused confusion for years. We regularly receive calls from people trying to reach Bloomex, including customers contacting us about problems with Bloomex orders. In fact, we first wrote about the confusion—and about flower order gatherers—back in 2022.

This time, rather than simply explaining the difference between the two companies, we decided to do something a little different: we went shopping.

We selected three common flower purchases from The BloomBox and Bloomex, followed each through checkout for delivery in Brandon, and compared not only what the customer would actually pay, but what the recipient would actually receive.

The results weren't entirely what we expected.

Sometimes Bloomex was the less expensive option. Sometimes The BloomBox was. But as we worked through the comparisons, we discovered that the price shown beside the product photograph was only part of the story. Vases, delivery charges, whether the flowers arrived professionally arranged, how they were delivered, and what happened if something went wrong all made a difference.

The prices, checkout charges, product descriptions and published policies discussed in this article are based on what we observed directly on the companies' websites during our comparison in September 2026. Prices, promotions and policies can change, so consider this a snapshot of what a customer shopping for flower delivery in Brandon would have encountered at the time.

Prices and policies in this comparison were checked in September 2026. Prices, promotions, delivery fees and policies can change. No coupon codes, memberships or promotional discounts were applied.

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How We Compared the Two

We chose three common flower purchases: a dozen red roses, a bright florist's-choice design, and a birthday arrangement that appeared similar in overall size when shopping online.

We compared what was actually included—not simply what appeared in the product photograph. Where a vase was pictured but sold separately, we added it before comparing prices.

Flowers are natural products, so no two arrangements can ever be perfectly identical. Nor are we pretending these are laboratory tests. We approached this the way we think a normal customer would:

What do the products look like online? What does the website say is included? What do I actually pay at checkout? And what will the recipient receive?

Let's start with roses.

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Comparison #1: One Dozen Red Roses

Bloomex advertised its One Dozen Long Stem Red Roses for $89.99.

The roses were pictured in a vase, but a vase wasn't included in that price. A clear glass vase was offered separately for $10.99.

That brought the comparable Bloomex merchandise total to $100.98.

Bloomex's dozen red roses were $89.99 during our test. The clear glass vase was offered separately for $10.99.

The BloomBox's Classic Roses Vased was $110, including the vase and professional design.

Here's what happened at checkout:

Total difference was $9.75 with Bloomex being the less expensive option.

*During this particular checkout test, Bloomex's $100.98 merchandise total had reached its advertised free-delivery threshold. Before 1:00 p.m., the additional $5 charge wasn't displayed. When we returned after the stated same-day cutoff, a $5 “Delivery Fee” appeared. We used the amount actually presented to us at checkout.

So if the only question is “Which one costs less?”, Bloomex wins this comparison. But the products aren't quite the same.

A Vase Isn't Just Packaging

At The BloomBox, the vase is generally part of the floral design itself. Its height, width, opening and shape influence the length of the stems, placement of the flowers, proportions of the finished arrangement and the mechanics that hold everything where it's supposed to be. Our dozen roses are professionally arranged in the vase before they leave our shop. Greenery isn't simply decoration either; it helps create the structure and foundation of the arrangement that holds everything together. The recipient receives a completed floral design, ready to display. That's an important distinction when comparing a professionally arranged vase of roses with flowers and a separately purchased vase the recipient has to arrange themselves.

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Comparison #2: Bright Designer's Choice

For our second comparison, we looked at something less specific. What happens when you essentially tell the florist: “Make me something bright and beautiful”?

Bloomex's Bright Colours Designer's Choice with Vase was advertised for $54.99.

Bloomex's Bright Colours Designer's Choice with Vase was advertised at $54.99 during our comparison.

The BloomBox's Bright Hand Tied Bouquet starts at $50 and normally doesn't include a vase.

The BloomBox Bright Hand Tied Bouquet starts at $50 and normally does not include a vase.

To make the comparison closer, we added one of our $10 vases, bringing our merchandise price to $60. Here's an important distinction about what “add a vase” means at The BloomBox. We don't send the recipient a cut bouquet and an empty vase and expect them to figure it out. If you add a vase, we arrange the flowers in the vase. The recipient receives a finished arrangement ready to display.

At checkout, this is where the two orders ended up:

This time, The BloomBox was $5.58 less.

Bloomex started $5.01 lower on merchandise but finished $5.58 higher once delivery and tax were included. During this test, Bloomex's checkout also displayed a free-delivery progress indicator telling us that another $45.01 needed to be spent to qualify for free delivery. That corresponds to a $100 merchandise threshold. This comparison demonstrates something that's going to become a recurring theme:

The advertised flower price isn't necessarily the delivered price.

The number that ultimately matters is the one that comes out of your wallet.

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Comparison #3: A Birthday Arrangement

For our third comparison, we went shopping in Bloomex's Birthday collection. We selected Delicate Delight because, based on the product photographs, it appeared to represent roughly the same overall size of birthday gift as our Butterfly Garden. We're not claiming they're physically identical in size. We haven't put a delivered Delicate Delight beside a Butterfly Garden with a measuring tape. We're comparing them the same way most people shopping for flowers online have to:

By what they see on the screen.

Bloomex's Delicate Delight was advertised at $59.99.

The BloomBox Butterfly Garden was $100.00.

That's a whopping $40.01 difference at first glance.

But look a little closer.

Bloomex Delicate Delight was advertised at $59.99. The product photograph shows flowers presented in a vase, while the description states that vases are available separately at checkout.

Bloomex's own product description says the flowers are shipped fresh and that vases are available during checkout. The vase shown in the photograph isn't included in that $59.99 price, so we added Bloomex's $10.99 Clear Glass Vase.

Adding the $10.99 clear glass vase brought the Bloomex merchandise total to $70.98. The free-delivery indicator showed another $29.02 was required.

That brought the Bloomex merchandise price to $70.98, then we went through delivery selection.

Regular Brandon delivery added $14.99, bringing the Delicate Delight order with vase to $96.29 after tax.

The final comparison was:

Bloomex was still $20.96 less.

That's a significant difference, and we're not going to pretend otherwise.

But this particular comparison also illustrates better than either of the first two why apparent size and price don't necessarily mean you're comparing the same product.

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Can the Arrangement Actually Look Like the Photograph?

There's something else a florist notices when looking at the Delicate Delight photograph. Several blooms are presented facing the viewer from positions that don't appear consistent with the direction their stems would need to travel into the vase below.

Flowers have stems, and stems have rules.

Roses and carnations have relatively firm stems. A florist can't simply position every bloom wherever it looks best to the camera; the stem underneath determines where that flower can actually go.

To our professional eye, the floral portion of the Delicate Delight image appears to have been photographed from a substantially different angle than the vase beneath it. Whatever process was used to create the final product image, it isn't representative of how those flowers could physically sit in that vase exactly as pictured.

 

Now compare that with Butterfly Garden.

The BloomBox's Butterfly Garden photographed from several angles. These are photographs of arrangements actually created in our Brandon shop.

Our Butterfly Garden page shows the arrangement from the front, above and different sides. Why? Because that's what a real arrangement does. Turn it around and some flowers disappear behind others while different flowers become visible. A floral arrangement exists in three dimensions. Every arrangement featured on The BloomBox website is created and photographed in our Brandon shop and unless the product specifically says it doesn't include a container, our arrangements include one. After all, a birthday gift shouldn't arrive with homework.

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Is Butterfly Garden Worth $20.96 More?

That's ultimately up to the customer. If your priority is simply spending the least amount possible, Bloomex clearly wins this comparison. But what does the additional $20.96 at The BloomBox buy? It buys a completed floral arrangement designed in its container. The flowers are cut and positioned by a professional florist. The container is selected to work with the design. The arrangement is ready to display when it arrives and then we deliver it ourselves.

That's another significant difference.

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Flower Delivery Isn't the Same Everywhere

At The BloomBox, we hand-deliver our orders in our own delivery vehicle. For residential deliveries, we contact the recipient before the arrangement is loaded for delivery. We don't leave flowers on a doorstep, we don't leave them with a neighbour, and if we haven't confirmed someone will be available to receive them, the flowers don't leave our shop.

Our published Delivery & Shipping Policy explains exactly that and there's a very practical reason for being this particular: This is Manitoba. Flowers and extreme temperatures, cold or hot, aren't a good combination.

Bloomex uses a different delivery model.

Bloomex's published Delivery Policy describes its shipping and delivery procedures, including courier service outside its listed same-day delivery areas and driver discretion when no recipient is available.

Bloomex's current Delivery Policy identifies its same-day production-facility markets as Greater Toronto, Ottawa, Greater Montreal, Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Halifax and Greater Vancouver. For deliveries outside those areas, the policy says overnight courier service is used for next-business-day delivery. Brandon isn't among the production-facility markets listed in that policy. Their policy also says customers can provide instructions such as leaving the gift with a neighbour or in a designated area. When nobody is available to accept the delivery, Bloomex says the driver may use their discretion based on weather, safety, security and other circumstances.

That's simply a very different delivery model from ours.

Because people regularly confuse The BloomBox with Bloomex, we've received calls over the years from Bloomex customers trying to resolve problems with orders they thought came from us. Some have specifically told us that their Bloomex flower boxes were left outside in cold weather, others have called wondering why they had to arrange the flowers themselves. We were receiving those complaints years ago, which is one of the reasons we first wrote about the BloomBox/Bloomex confusion in 2022.

That doesn't necessarily mean the courier driver has done something wrong. A courier driver may have a vehicle full of packages and a busy delivery route. They may not even know what's inside a particular box.

It's simply a different delivery model.

We're florists delivering flowers. We know what's in our vehicle. We know what temperature the flowers have been stored at. We know how long they've been out of the cooler and we know what Manitoba weather can do to them so we call first.

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What Happens If Something Goes Wrong?

This might be the most important comparison in the entire article, because it's something you can't see in a product photograph. Bloomex's September 2026 Order & Return Policy states that quality complaints or deficiencies must be reported within 24 hours following delivery.

Bloomex's Order & Return Policy during our September 2026 comparison. Quality complaints or deficiencies must be received within 24 hours following delivery.

The policy asks customers to provide a photograph when reporting damaged flowers or other damaged products. For confirmed damage, Bloomex says it may resend a new product at its expense or issue store credit. The same policy says refunds aren't issued due to the perishable nature of the product. The BloomBox takes a different approach.

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Our Flowers Are Guaranteed for Seven Days

Not seven days after we make them, not seven days after they come out of our cooler, not seven days after they leave our shop.

Seven days from delivery or pickup.

Our published Refund Policy & guarantee says that if a customer isn't satisfied with the purchased product, we'll exchange or remake the design within seven days of delivery or pickup.

There's a reason we've chosen seven days. We've worked with fresh flowers long enough to know that a problem doesn't necessarily reveal itself within the first 24 hours. A flower can look absolutely perfect when it comes out of our cooler. It can look perfect when we create the arrangement. It can look perfect when we deliver it, and then something happens. Sometimes you'll know within 24 hours, sometimes a problem doesn't appear until the third or fourth day. That's the nature of working with a fresh, living product.

So our guarantee follows the flowers after the recipient receives them, because that's when their experience with the product actually begins.

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Proper Care Matters Too

There is a caveat to our guarantee: flowers need reasonable care. They need water. They need an appropriate environment. And keeping that water clean makes an enormous difference to how long they'll last. But we're not interested in using “improper care” as an excuse to argue with a customer. If someone has a problem and we see something that may have contributed to it, we'd rather explain what happened and help them get better results. We see that as an opportunity to educate, which brings us to one of our favourite pieces of flower-care advice:

“If you wouldn't drink the water, your flowers shouldn't either.”

Cloudy vase water is a sign that bacteria are building up, that can cause the unpleasant smell people sometimes associate with old flowers—but bacteria can do something much more important than make the water smell bad; it can interfere with the flower's ability to take up water.

Bacterial growth can obstruct the vessels in the stem that transport water upward through the flower. So even though the stem may be sitting in a vase full of water, the flower can have difficulty actually drinking it, and that can dramatically shorten vase life. That's why clean water and a clean container are two of the simplest things you can do to help fresh flowers last. We've written an entire flower-care guide around that philosophy, and we expect our flowers to last at least seven days with reasonable care. Many varieties can last considerably longer.

But if something genuinely goes wrong with the flowers, we want to know about it. That's what a guarantee is for. We have a saying here; If you loved our product, tell everyone! If you didn't, tell us!

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24 Hours vs. Seven Days

Put the policies side by side and there's a considerable difference.

 

The BloomBox has restrictions too. We're selling a live, perishable product. Same-day orders are processed quickly and can't necessarily be cancelled once work has begun, and cash refunds are issued at our discretion. We publish those conditions along with our guarantee. We're not interested in pretending our policies don't have limits. What matters to us is the protection the customer has after the flowers arrive.

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So, Is Bloomex Less Expensive Than The BloomBox?

Sometimes. That's what our comparison actually found.

 

Bloomex was cheaper in two of our three comparisons. We could have kept shopping until we found three examples where we were cheaper nut what would that prove? Our point isn't that The BloomBox will always have the lowest price.

We won't.

Our point is that the number beside the photograph doesn't tell you everything you need to know to determine which product offers better value. You need to know what's included, you need to know the final delivery charge, you need to know whether the flowers arrive professionally arranged. You need to know who's delivering them and you should know what happens if something goes wrong three days after they arrive.

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What Are You Actually Paying For?

When you order from The BloomBox, you're ordering directly from the people who will make your flowers.

We're an independent flower shop in Brandon.

The photographs on our website are ours.

The arrangements are ours.

The people answering the phone are us.

The people making the flowers are us.

The person arriving at the recipient's door is one of us too.

Our work is created in our Brandon shop under the creative direction of AIFD designer Trish Fjeldsted, and the arrangements featured on our website are our own designs and photographs. That's part of what our prices pay for, and we're perfectly comfortable letting customers decide whether that's worth the difference.

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There's Only One BloomBox. And It's Right Here in Brandon.

If you came here because you were trying to figure out whether The BloomBox is Bloomex, now you know.

We're not.

We're The BloomBox, an independent Brandon flower shop, and if you're comparing us with Bloomex—or with anyone else—we'd encourage you to do exactly what we did here.

Look beyond the advertised price.

Look at what's included.

Look at the delivery charge.

Look at the guarantee.

Look at what happens when nobody is home.

And most importantly:

Compare what actually arrives at the door.

Fresh. Unique. Flowers. It's What We Do!

Want to see what a locally designed arrangement actually looks like? Browse our fresh flowers and bouquets

A Note About Customer Experiences Mentioned in This Article

From time to time, The BloomBox receives calls from recipients or people who mistakenly believe they placed their order with us when their order was actually placed with Bloomex. This confusion has given us firsthand exposure to complaints from Bloomex customers, including reports of flower boxes being left outside in very cold weather and concerns about the condition of flowers upon arrival.

These experiences were reported to us by those callers. We did not witness the individual deliveries ourselves and cannot independently verify the circumstances of each case. Where this article discusses those calls, we are sharing what customers have told us, not presenting those individual experiences as representative of every Bloomex delivery.