Ladue Florist: One of the Pillars of the Business Community

Each week, the Ladue-Frontenac Patch takes a look at a different business in the community. Maryanne Przetak has been the owner of for 33 years. She purchased the business from the original owner Dorothy Borgers in 1979. Outside of a couple of local grocery stores, she is the only source for all fresh flowers in Ladue plus a whole lot of gift items too.

This is Patch’s interview with Maryanne Przetak:

Patch: How do you mainly like to be contacted? In person, on he phone or through the internet.

Przetak: The phones work well for most people. They can find out what is is available currently and can discuss it with one of our sales people or our designers. Folks like to order on our website too. There are hundreds of florals on the site each month and that makes it very simple, and they can do it 24 hours a day.

Patch: Have you seen things change in Ladue over those years.

Przetak: That’s for sure. There’s been a lot of changes all over the world, and there have been a lot of changes in the floral world too.

Dorothy Borgers started the business in the early 1960s and I worked for her for a short while then purchased the business from her.

Patch: Have you grown the business.

Przetak: Yes, in terms of the space that we are in. When I came to work here, we only had the main store entrance. We gradually acquired more spaces and then in 1993, we also leased what we call our design center and its a warehouse in Brentwood. That’s where all the work goes on behind the scenes. Yes, we’ve grown a lot since the early 1980s.

Patch: The obvious question, what’s the busiest day of the year for you.

Przetak: Mother’s Day, Christmas and Valentine’s Day. Because of the pressure of two days and Mother’s Day has become Mother’s Week and Christmas starts in early November and runs through the holiday.

Patch: What else do you offer.

Przetak: A lot of home items, a lot of decor items. We sell a lot of decoration items and hostess gifts.

Patch: Where do you find these items.

Our general manager Randy Felkey and I generally go twice a year to one of the major market shows in Atlanta or Dallas.

Patch: Where do you get your flowers.

Przetak: We get them from Flower Row down on Lasalle Street. Years ago, there used used to be many more wholesalers. Now we have fewer wholesalers but we are lucky in St. Louis that it is all concentrated in one distinct area.

Patch: How have you seen the business change over those many years.

Przetak: Since I first started at Ladue Florist, the world has become so much more a global market. There are fewer domestic growers than years ago and the majority of flowers now come from South America.

The internet has changed the industry quite a bit. We handle a lot of orders that way.

Patch: What stands out in your mind the most about the business.

Przetak: We’ve done fabulous parties. We’ve done special events. We always say we should have kept a book of unique messages on the cards, but we didn’t. It is really nice to be part of special moments in people’s lives. It can be weddings, new babies, a retirement or a funeral. We share those events with our customers. That gives a lot of satisfaction and meaning to what we do. One time, we put an engagement ring in a box of roses.

We like to work with men who are very romantic and really think through their plans. We feel flowers represent our clients. In the case of a death or an illness when there is nothing more you can say, you can express yourself with the gift of flowers. At one time, there were three florists within a couple of blocks and we’ve enjoyed the support of many of the people in this community and throughout the area, and that helped us to be survivors.

Address: 9776 Clayton Road

Phone Number: 314-994-7304, 800-905-2383

Website: www.ladueflorists.com

Hours: 8 a.m. to 5:30 Monday through Friday. Saturdays, 8 a.m. until 5 p.m. Closed on Sundays. Open several Sundays in December.