A Black elderly woman with glasses stands in a flower shop, holding a bouquet of red and white flowers with greenery. She wears a dark coat and a partially lowered black face mask. The shop is filled with colorful floral arrangements and decorations, with a cluttered counter in the foreground.
Mary Wesley — Miss Mary to regulars — has owned and operated Flowers Just 4 U in the Central District for 40 years.(Photo: Ronnie Estoque)

The Central District Says Goodbye to Flowers Just 4 U and Other Black-Owned Businesses

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It's a bright, gray Wednesday morning and Flowers Just 4 U is bustling with activity. Owner Mary Wesley — "Miss Mary" to regulars — sits behind the shop's front desk as people come in to pick up bouquets and pass on words of thanks and appreciation.

Next month, Wesley will exit Flowers Just 4 U — a rare Black-owned flower shop in the city — and retire after 40 years of business in the Central District. Her presence has been a veritable fixture of the neighborhood with her floral arrangements marking weddings, funerals, graduations, anniversaries, and other life events in the historically Black neighborhood. Many locals have grown up getting their flowers from her shop.

"I wanted to say thank you for making my childhood. My grandparents would come here all the time since I was young when you were on Jackson," said one customer who came by to pick up some flowers one final time. Wesley inquired about the names of the customer's grandparents and remembered them. "Well, you're certainly welcome," Wesley replied. "All I did was from my heart."

A small green building housing "Flowers Just 4 U," a flower and gift shop, located on a street corner. The storefront features a bright orange door, a green and yellow sign above, and a window displaying a "Black Lives Matter" sign. A sandwich board advertising the shop is on the sidewalk.
Outside Flowers Just 4 U on the corner of 23rd and East Cherry Street.(Photo: Jas Keimig)

Wesley landed in Seattle in 1956 from Washington, D.C., by way of Los Angeles and worked at Boeing as a production control engineer for nearly 30 years. During the last decade of her tenure at the aerospace company, she began to imagine what life would look like after retirement. She had so much energy, she just had to keep going with something.

"I told myself I had to get busy and try and find a job for myself in the next 10 years because I was going to be retiring [from Boeing]. So I did just that," Wesley remembered. "I kept a little notebook on my bed stand and as things came to mind about what I'd like to do, I just jotted it down. Flowers kept coming back. [I thought] well, maybe that's what I gotta do."

The first iteration of Flowers Just 4 U opened as Flowers, Etc. on 23rd and Jackson Street in 1984,  a time when the Central District had yet to experience extensive gentrification. Wesley spent 34 years in that space, but following protracted construction disruption in 2015, she was forced to move her business to a new location at 23rd and Cherry Street in 2018 due to an affordable housing development being erected at the Jackson Street location.

For the last 7 years, Flowers Just 4 U has weathered extensive challenges, from losing major contracts, to a near-eviction, to the pandemic. ACER House owns the building the flower shop is located in and plans to demo the spot to build a mixed-use affordable housing development. Wesley says the owners have offered her a spot in the new building, but now she's ready to retire from her retirement job.

"I haven't been playing golf like I should," said Wesley.

Though Flowers Just 4 U's last day of operation is on Feb. 1, Wesley hopes that she can find a buyer for the location to keep the much-beloved flower shop in the community. Last week, she said she had a potential buyer interested in taking over the location — so keep an eye out for a continuance of flowers on that corner.

Two More Black-Owned Businesses Are Closing Up Shop, Too

Wesley leaving Flowers Just 4 U comes as a wave of iconic Black businesses in the Central Area have shut their doors. On Jan. 3, Terrell Jackson of Jackson's Catfish Corner posted a video on Instagram announcing that the iconic catfish joint would cease operations. He cited a lack of staff, a changing neighborhood, and a desire to switch things up as reasons behind the closure.

"I don't want this to be a sad time," said Jackson in the Instagram video. "I did all I can."

Jackson's Catfish Corner's brick-and-mortar opening on 23rd and Jackson on Juneteenth 2021 was heralded as a welcome return for the much-beloved restaurant. Initially started by Jackson's grandparents in 1985 and located on Cherry Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Way, the original restaurant decided to close down in 2014. Jackson took over operations in 2015, hosting a series of pop-ups in places like Skyway and Rainier Beach to keep the spirit of his grandparents' business alive. The loss of the 23rd and Jackson location marks a loss of tradition and culture in the Central District.

Two men smile outside Jackson's Catfish Corner restaurant. One wears a blue button-up shirt and glasses, while the other wears a black t-shirt with the restaurant's logo, a backward cap, and a gold necklace. The restaurant's yellow and black sign featuring a catfish is visible in the background.
Chris Szala (left) , executive director at Community House Mental Health Agency, and Jackson's Catfish Corner owner Terrell Jackson (right) stand in front of his new restaurant location at the Patricia K Apartments development in 2021.(Photo: Ronnie Estoque)

And further north on Capitol Hill, on Jan. 2, chef-owner Makini Howell announced the permanent closure of Plum Bistro and Plum Chopped, two much-beloved vegan restaurants, as she starts the "exciting launch of our next chapter." Howell plans to launch Makini's, a "tofu company offering an equitable, thoughtful and great-tasting plant protein that's all spiced up and ready to go into whatever you're making — wraps, stir-fry, sandwiches, salads or soups." That's in addition to her tofu-making factory located down in Georgetown.

With these closures, many Seattleites and media outlets have highlighted the importance of supporting Black-owned businesses during a time when the community is losing three iconic spots. Last week, Converge Media announced #SupportBlackBusiness, a 60-day media campaign designed to draw attention and support to Black businesses that may be struggling in this — admittedly tough — economic environment. Head over to Converge's Instagram page to learn a bit more about their effort.

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