New Columbia Falls floral shop a family affair

There’s a new floral shop on Nucleus Avenue in Columbia Falls, operated by a local family with roots in West Glacier.

Alyx Wieringa opened up Glacier Floral Design in downtown Columbia Falls in May.  She was originally going to open the shop with a partner, but the woman had to drop out for personal reasons, but her husband, Josh encouraged her to open anyway.

 “So that’s what we did,” she said.

Josh Wieringa helps out with deliveries when he can, as does a family friend while Alyx runs the shop and watches her young son, Ben.

Josh Wieringa is a machinist with Applied Materials.

Alyx Wieringa said they launched on Google Live and “it just took off.”

On Mother’s Day, they sold out, and the store was meager, save for the flowers in the cooler.

“We had a folding table and a cash register,” Alyx Wieringa said.

There has been a lot of local support, she noted.

Wieringa is no stranger to the floral business. She started her career at the age of 15. Her father, Craig Yankowski worked at a fancy grocery store in Washington state and it had a massive floral department.

“I was in charge of taking out the garbage and waxing the floors,” she said.

But one thing led to another and she learned the floral trade through hard work.

At age 19 she was manning her own booth at the Seattle Wedding show with her friend and mentor Angela Rinker.

“She’s my spirit guide,” she said.

She eventually met Josh Wieringa, who grew up in West Glacier and moved to Montana.

The shop has flowers and many other gifts from local artists and craftspeople and is looking for more consignments. She sources her flowers from wholesale Skyline Flowers out of Spokane, Washington, which is the same wholesaler used by the larger shops in the valley.

Glacier Floral Design delivers to as far away as West Glacier and is open Monday through Friday 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. and Saturdays 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. They do events as well as retail. One fun thing she’s been doing is a do-it-yourself bouquet stand on Saturdays where folks can come in and build their bouquets for a nominal fee.

Glacier Floral Design is located at 527 Nucleus Ave. Call 892-9668 or visit www.glacierfloral.com.