By Aaron Allen, The Seattle Medium
Seattle’s Central District is preparing to bid farewell to a cornerstone of its community. Mary Wesley, affectionately known as “Miss Mary,” has announced she will retire and close the doors of Flowers Just 4 U on January 15, 2025. After over 40 years of serving the neighborhood, Wesley’s retirement marks the end of an era for a business that has weathered the tides of gentrification and urban change.
Born in Washington, D.C., Wesley moved to the Pacific Northwest in 1956.
“I’m from Washington, D.C., and I arrived here in 1956,” Wesley recalled. “I married a GI, and they sent him to California. We were there six months, and then they sent him overseas. When he came back, we were stationed at Fort Lewis, and we lived in Tacoma. So, I was over there about two years. After my marriage ended, I moved to Seattle and got a job at the Boeing Company.”
Wesley built a 29-year career at Boeing, starting as a clerk and eventually moving into management. As retirement approached, she began contemplating her next chapter.
“After about 29 years with Boeing, I decided I wanted to think of something else to do, so I thought about flowers,” Wesley said.
Starting her own business was no small task. Wesley spent countless nights brainstorming ideas and documenting them in a journal she kept at her bedside.
“I kept my little night pad on my nightstand and kept track of what I would do if I got a flower shop. What would I name it? As these names came to mind, I would jot them down on my little night pad—I call it my night pad,” she said.
In 1984, Wesley opened Flowers, Etc. at the corner of 23rd Avenue and Jackson Street. At the time, she was still working at Boeing, so she placed a newspaper ad to find a manager who could run the shop in her absence.
“I got my flower shop going. I had my name already picked out for my shop, and then I started looking around for people to work in the shop because I was still working at Boeing. I had not left Boeing when I opened the shop,” Wesley explained. “I ran ads in the paper for a manager for the store because I was still working, and then I got a good manager. She worked for me for 10 years while I was still working.”
Running the shop presented challenges, including navigating Seattle’s rapidly changing Central District. Over the years, Wesley endured the pressures of gentrification as real estate developers transformed the neighborhood and frequently approached her about selling her business.
However, Wesley did decide to sell the business once, entrusting it to an employee. Unfortunately, the new owner struggled to maintain the business, prompting Wesley to step back in and reclaim ownership.
“I sold it to an employee, and she only had it for like six months, and she ran it in the ground. That’s why I renamed it,” Wesley said.
After buying back the shop, she rebranded it as Flowers Just 4 U, a name that has become synonymous with her legacy in the neighborhood.
Wesley attributes her success to careful planning and financial discipline, though she acknowledges the hurdles of entrepreneurship.
“Well, one thing I discovered being a business owner—you’ve got to have a backup of money. You’ve got to have that cushion behind you. That was a challenge,” she explained. “Getting in the right people in the right slots because everybody that you hire is not going to be who you want. So, those things play a very important role—money and the employees.”
As the Central District continued to evolve, Wesley had to contend with the disruptions caused by major construction projects. Developers like Paul Allen, the co-founder of Microsoft, and his company Vulcan redeveloped the area around the Red Apple corridor at 23rd Avenue and South Jackson Street, bringing significant changes to the neighborhood. Wesley eventually accepted an offer to relocate her shop to its current location at 23rd Avenue and Cherry Street.
“Well, it wasn’t easy, because first I had to wake up to find out what’s going on here,” Wesley recalled. “And then I find all these buildings are going up, and they’re tearing the streets up. What’s that going to do for my business? I was right in the middle of it all. Didn’t much happen during that time, and they shut down the streets due to construction, and I lost quite a bit of money.”
She described how the construction hindered her business.
“With traffic, people normally just look up and see my shop. They’ll swing over, park the car, and come in and buy flowers. But when they shut down one side of the street, then my business went the opposite way on the opposite side of the street, which didn’t help me.”
Despite these challenges, Wesley’s shop became a cherished fixture in the community, representing a legacy of perseverance and dedication. As she prepares to retire, Wesley reflects on her long career and the lessons she has learned.
“Success cannot be defined without struggle, without challenges,” she said.
With the closure of Flowers Just 4 U, the Central District will lose another piece of its history. However, Wesley leaves a lasting legacy as a trailblazer in Seattle’s Black business community.
“I was a great sports girl,” Wesley said with a smile.
“She loves football. She played golf, she bowled. I had to do that to keep my mind active. Golfing, what else did I do? I can say I’ll go to the casino,” she added Wesley added with a giggle.