EverWild Florals Welcomes First Valentine’s Day Downtown

By Kevin Collison

Sarah Jaeger wanted a central location to open her first retail flower shop last summer and is delighted to welcome her first Valentine’s Day in space adjoining the lobby of the art deco 909 Walnut apartment tower.

“I looked all over for a year and I knew I wanted to be in the heart of the city,” she said. “I’m a Kansas City native and I love Kansas City and wanted a Kansas City address. This space was a good fit.”

Her business, EverWild Florals, specializes in selling bouquets by the stem count and its proven popular with both downtown residents, employers and the delivery side of her business.

There’s even a subscription option where people can order regular bouquets by the week, bi-weekly or monthly.

“When the weather’s nice, people grab and go bouquets,” she said. “Most of what we do are daily deliveries throughout Kansas City, and we do weddings and events.”

EverWild also sells a variety of locally-sourced items including candles, live plants and macaroons.

The 1,300 square-foot space where EverWild is located had been used for resident events at the 909 Walnut building and has its own entrance.

It featured a wet bar that now doubles as a bouquet workshop. The shop employs six people including Jaeger.

Besides flower arrangements, EverWild sells candles, dry arrangements, live plants and baked goods including macaroons, all from local businesses.

“We specialize in doing designer, curated bouquets,” she said.

“We locally source our blooms as much as possible and we sell by the stem count which helps us keep a lower inventory and allows us to price arrangements more affordably.”

That approach to bouquets also substantially reduces waste. Jaeger her business only throws out about 2 percent of its plant materials as opposed to the industry average of about 40 percent.

EverWild’s hours are Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. and Saturday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.