Girls’ shopping trip turns into a new career for local woman

Cheryl Hentz

Contributor

September 8, 2025

NEENAH – After a successful career in dental hygiene, including teaching at Fox Valley Technical College (FVTC), Kelly Flees said she found herself facing an unexpected opportunity.

During a girls’ shopping trip, she said a friend casually mentioned that her brother was selling his floral shop, Seven Thymes.

The business had been in operation for about five years, but Flees said recent challenges led to the decision to put it on the market – opening the door for her to take over.

“I had always amateurly designed things and grown flowers, but never thought of it as a career opportunity – until it presented itself,” she said. “My friend is pretty vocal, and we walked into the store and she said to her brother, ‘Kelly’s going to buy your shop.’ And he said, ‘Really?’”

Flees said she created floral designs “just for fun,” never seriously considering it as a career.

But after some conversations with the shop’s owner, she said “we exchanged information, had many [more] conversations, one thing led to another and here we are.” 

Those life-altering, career-changing moments, Flees said, started in January.

By mid-April, she said she was the new owner – changing the name to Violet Mae’s Floral Shop, paying homage to her late paternal and maternal grandmothers, respectively. 

“They both had a wonderful green thumb,” she said. “Between my grandmothers and my mother, they were always great with both flowers and plants. That’s where I got my interest from, even though I never anticipated it would become a career for me.”

Becoming a floral shop owner

Because the space at 200 W. Wisconsin Ave. in Neenah had already been a floral shop, and it had been renovated about 18 months earlier by the previous owners, Flees said there wasn’t much she had to do to get ready for opening day. 

“Besides having a couple of pipes burst above us, we didn’t have to do too much besides get new drywall and paint,” she said.

Any changes she did make, Flees said, were mostly aesthetic.

“We completely reset the store,” she said. “By the time I took over, some of the shelves were empty and there wasn’t much inventory. We have had a lot of new inventory coming in since.”

Flees said she redesigned the shop’s layout to improve accessibility, making it easier for customers to browse and shop.

“It was hard to access some of the plants and flowers in the past, so the reset makes a difference,” she said. “We also added some extra coolers, so we’re able to keep the flowers a lot fresher longer.”

Flees said the shop officially opened April 22, but she continued juggling both roles through May – managing the new business while finishing out the semester teaching at FVTC.

“I would basically put in 14- to 16-hour days between the two,” she said. “I was at the shop every day, but when I had to teach, I would physically have to go to the technical college.”

Before taking over, Flees said she did her homework – researching Wisconsin’s network of flower and plant wholesalers to find exactly what she needed for the shop.

“I went to all of the wholesalers in the state to find out where I could obtain the best quality and freshest flowers,” she said. “I’ve been using those wholesalers to procure the flowers and plants for the shop. Some of them come from local farms, and some come from large companies.”

Flees said she has also begun incorporating flowers from her personal garden into the shop’s offerings – including sunflowers and zinnias.

No stranger to growing flowers, Flees said she has cultivated everything from roses to hydrangeas over the years.

“Roses are hard to grow, because they’ll often get worms or bugs,” she said. “They’re really hard to harvest, too, because of all the thorns.”

Flees said her personal favorite used to be Calla Lilies. 

“But now, I’m uncertain what my favorite is because I’m exposed to so many unique ones,” she said.

Blooms and beyond

Though special orders are available for most flower varieties – especially for events – Flees said Violet Mae’s keeps a regular stock of garden roses, seasonal sunflowers and complementary greens.
The shop’s fresh flowers, she said, can be put in a vase or arranged in a hand-tied bouquet. 

“We typically have daisies, greens like eucalyptus, baby’s breath and different types of ferns and Alstro is kept in stock,” she said. “We are pretty limited on carnations, since they’re a more common flower you can find in almost any grocery store. So, we don’t typically keep them on hand, unless we need them for a special creation.” 

Among the shop’s more popular offerings, Flees said, is ranunculus, often referred to as buttercups. 

“It looks like a small, delicate rose, but it’s not a rose at all,” she said. “People really love them.”

Though they aren’t necessarily well known, Flees said she gets frequent requests for nigellas.

“[They] look like a little pod and then it opens up into a delicate flower about the size of a dollar coin,” she said. “It’s typically a whitish color.”

Despite their delicate appearance, Flees said nigellas are easy to maintain.

“They’ll typically last anywhere from a week and a half to three weeks, depending on whether you’re changing water,” she said. “We try to feature at least one or two unique flowers every week – things you wouldn’t necessarily be able to get at a grocery store or, even perhaps, another local florist.”

Flees said Violet Mae also offers a variety of indoor plants and some outdoor plants. 

“The outdoor ones are pretty much limited to cordylines, cyclamen,” she said.

For those concerned about keeping outdoor plants alive, Flees said many of the varieties offered at the shop are low maintenance, needing only regular watering and protection from excessive direct sunlight.

Beyond plants themselves, Flees said Violet Mae has a wide range of vases, ceramic pots and gift items that complement its floral offerings.                                                                                                              

“We have greeting cards to go along with the flowers or plants, candles, chocolates and small giftables – like jewelry, reed diffusers and even some children’s books specific to flowers and plants,” she said. “They’ve been a big hit.”

Flees said she tries to source her products locally whenever possible, but that’s not always easy.

“I do have a Shop Local section in the store, where I have some laser-engraved products and T-shirts that are made locally, as well as some greeting cards that are made locally,” she said.

Growing community through classes, collaborations

In the short time Violet Mae’s has been in operation, Flees said she has made sure Violet Mae’s serves as a welcoming space where small groups can come together to enjoy and learn about plants and flowers.

She said she actively involves the store in community events and hosts classes as well.

“A local Girl Scout troop recently came in to learn about flower germination,” she said. “At the end of the class, they received free flowers to take home. It was a big hit with them.”

One recent class, Flees said, taught customers how to create hand-wrapped bouquets, and the shop played host to a pop-up baby shower event where attendees designed their own bouquets.

For this fall, she said a Halloween terrarium-building class is in the works, along with flower bars that allow people to pick and arrange flowers themselves.

“That’s pretty much an option anytime – where someone can come in and choose what they’d like out of the cooler, and they can either put it together themselves or we’ll put it together for them,” she said.

In the future, Flees said she hopes to expand the shop’s offerings to include baby bows and hats, recognizing that customers often look for small gifts to accompany flowers when visiting newborns in the hospital. 

“That would be a nice option,” she said. “If I’m able to secure some baby bows and hats – and I’d prefer they’re made locally – we could do a class or event with those, too.”

Flees said she is also eager to collaborate with and support local businesses.

Industry woes

Taking over the business hasn’t been without its hurdles, Flees said, with increased tariffs being among the biggest. 

“Since I’ve taken over, the tariffs have increased the prices three times already,” she said. “It’s been kind of a rough start, between that and the pipes breaking.”

With many flowers coming from abroad – countries like Canada and Ecuador – rising import costs, Flees said, have forced prices upward repeatedly.

“People are sometimes shocked that a single rose, for example, will cost $5,” she said. “They don’t realize it’s grown in Canada or Ecuador. Wholesalers have to pay increased fees, and they’re passing them on to us, and then it continues to trickle down to the consumer.”

Many of the vases, pots and other floral supplies, Flees said, are also imported, which further complicates keeping costs down.

Despite the challenges, Flees said she remains committed to finding creative ways to manage expenses and offer customers the best value she can.

Whether it’s sourcing locally when possible, growing some of her own flowers or partnering with the community, she said she’s focused on making her business both sustainable and accessible.

Flees said her goal is to continue growing Violet Mae’s not just as a floral shop, but as a welcoming, community-driven space – one flower, one bouquet, one class at a time.