Bulls legend Derrick Rose's pop-up flower shop draws blocks-long line in downtown Chicago
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Thousands of people queued up in a line that stretched for blocks downtown Thursday, all waiting for a pop-up flower shop to open.
The lowlight of the experience was the long wait in the cold—but those who braved it said it was worth it.
"I woke up at 3 a.m. just so I could be here at 5, and glad I did," said Adolfo Rodriguez.
As he stood in line, Rodriguez and several others took out their mobile devices watched old video of Derrick Rose playing for the Bulls. Fresh off retirement, Rose—the local Chicago kid turned Chicago Bulls legend—will be honored at the Bulls game Saturday night.
But what does any of that have to do with people in line waiting for a pop-up flower shop to open? It happens that Rose's Flower Shop, with its slogan, "Stop and smell the roses," does not just reference the woody perennial flowering plant of the genus Rosa.
Rose—Derrick Rose, that is—is the one who opened the pop-up flower shop in question. Everyone in line was hoping Rose would make an off-court appearance at the shop at 350 N. State St. just north of Marina City on Thursday.
"I hope everybody get a chance to meet him, because he means a lot to people," said Bulls fan Kevin Sullivan, "and I don't think people understand how important he is to Chicago."
Rose's Flower Shop was open for one day only, and for only four hours. Of course, a rose by any other name wouldn't bring so many people to street after street. The line was so long that it took four minutes to walk from one end of it to the other.
"Derrick Rose is my favorite player of all time," said Rodriguez, "and there's not a lot of humans I'd do this for, but Derrick Rose is one of them, so here I am."
Fans who were lucky enough to make it inside got to pick four flowers to send to a loved one. But guess who was, in fact, there.
"It was awesome," said Rodriguez. "Derrick Rose, you're amazing."
Rose was wearing a green apron befitting of a flower shop, and he took pictures with jubilant fans—Rodriguez included.
"This is the biggest moment of my entire life," said Rodriguez.
Derrick Rose finds a new passion in filmmaking
Also Thursday, Rose was part of an event at the Soho House in the West Loop, giving a sneak peek of his new and first mini documentary, "Becoming a Rose." The documentary, which serves as a love letter to Chicago, will be shown Saturday night on Derrick Rose night at the United Center.
It is clear that filmmaking is Rose's new passion.
"Putting myself in this position as far as, like, retiring; putting myself in a position as far as stepping or wanting to be in film, and you've seen other people before me in film that was hoopers and didn't make it," Rose said. "So to have like two projects to touch people, to me… that's what the league was."
Derrick's oldest son, PJ, is a big part of the documentary project.
Derrick Rose Night is this Saturday at the United Center, when the Bulls host the New York Knicks. Rose played for the Bulls from 2008 until 2016 also played for the Knicks during in two stints—the 2016-2017 season, and from 2021 through 2023.
Fans will get a Derrick Rose T-shirt, and can pick up one of 5,000 roses from a flower cart.
