Meet the engineer turned florist running Central District’s 1st Black-owned floral shop since 1984

In 1984, Mary Wesley, who is nicknamed “Miss Mary,” founded Flowers Just-4-U, the first Black-owned flower shop in the Central District of Seattle, to give lovely flowers to her community.

In an interview with King5.com, Wesley said, “It was just something I loved to do and it was giving something back to my community. We did not have a flower shop in the community.”

Over the past 40 years, the elderly entrepreneur has given away “tens of thousands” of bouquets at significant life events in Seattle and beyond. Wesley previously worked as an engineer at Boeing for nearly 30 years. She studied floral design and gardening after retiring in 1997 to fulfill her goal of becoming an entrepreneur. 

Since Wesley opened Flowers Just-4-U, she has been able to combine her love of the area with her passion for business and creative talents. 

She expressed, “It’s a very joyous thing. I could never find the words to say it how I’d like to express it because there’s not a word yet I think I could use that would really explain how I feel about my career.”

After Wesley’s old store at 23rd and Jackson was forced to close due to new construction in the quickly gentrifying Central District in 2018, she moved to 23rd and Cherry but suffered from reduced foot traffic and parking.

In 2020 when the cherished florist Flowers Just-4-U was about to be evicted, the neighborhood came together to save it. Miss Mary’s shop remained open thanks to a GoFundMe campaign. 

Despite hardships over the last 40 years, Miss Mary has continued to bring joy via floral art, with no intentions to retire.

Sue Grimord, a current employee, describes her workplace as “a family” and bears witness to Wesley’s angelic care for all customers. 

Despite working on a smaller scale than in previous years, Flowers Just-4-U remains a neighborhood foundation, thriving into its fifth decade because of the vision and heart of “Miss Mary.”