The Flower Shop on Church Street provides flowers for all of its customers' needs. It does silk and fresh flowers for weddings, funerals, church services, proms and more. The newest endeavor at the shop came at the end of Covid with the addition of a vendor's market.
The Flower Shop on Church Street is owned by Tracy Dyess. She has two employees, Wanda Nace and Holly Kruger, that work alongside her. Carlton Thornhill helps Dyess immensely doing arrangements and covering for her when she is away. Dyess said his experience really has helped her.
"I'm impressed with the knowledge my vendors have. I've learned a lot from them. The flow is important. Each of the 10 vendors has a section, and they all have unique things. I try not to repeat vendors. Some are local and some are out of Hattiesburg, but they all have ties here," Dyess said. "I like being here as much as I can because the personal touch is what people need. I am a little bit of a workaholic. I can talk to customers and deliver flowers. Small businesses have to work hard to compete for and keep business."
Dyess opened the business six years ago when she moved here to be closer to family. Her grandkids lived here, and her husband had had a liver transplant. They were living in the upstairs of the house but had to move when Covid hit because of his being immunocompromised and having people in and out all day.
Dyess said she opened up the upstairs part of the house, which she never intended to do, after they moved out. There are vendors upstairs, but she said lots of people have wanted to go up there just because they always saw the house but never the upstairs.
The balcony only opens up at Christmas time so people can come and enjoy the festivities up there. Dyess said she almost locked a couple in once because they were still on the balcony enjoying the night when she was closing up the shop.
"We get a lot of repeat customers after Experience Columbia. We are looking for repeat customers who like to shop and find treasures. We have a group that comes from Brookhaven regularly. A group came in from Meridian. They had gone to Laurel to shop, and a shop owner there sent them to The Flower Shop. I then sent them to other shops in town," Dyess said. "The local businesses have to help each other."
Dyess said she would like to expand to doing flowers for more weddings, which would mean hiring more staff. She is also debating how to bring back having tea parties and birthday parties at the shop after she has taken all of the space for vendors. She wants to make the most out of all of the spaces, have more painting and flower classes, have book signings once again and have more characters walking around at Christmas.
The Flower Shop on Church Street is located at 323 Church Street. It can be reached at (601) 633-5007. Its hours are Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m. and Saturday from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. Its hours will be extended until 8 p.m. during Experience Columbia from mid-November through the New Year.
