Wilmette woman takes over FlowersFlowers in Evanston

(Editor’s Note: This story was reported by Margo Milanowski for the Evanston Roundtable, a neighboring independent newsroom. It was shared with The Record as part of an ongoing collaborative effort.)

FlowersFlowers owner Joanne Leiman announced Monday that the Evanston floral shop is changing hands, sharing on social media that she has sold the business to a colleague, Amanda Ault, of Wilmette.

“I am confident that FlowersFlowers will continue in its ever evolving successful and positive growth under Amanda’s ownership and leadership,” Leiman said in the post. “She was the perfect choice to take over the business that I’ve loved so much.”

Leiman bought the shop in 1999 when she made a leap from the corporate world of banking into the private floral business.

“I sort of just jumped in and it was a great business with a great reputation,” Leiman told the RoundTable. “We’re making people happy, even if it’s a sad occasion.”

Leiman recalled that the store had been established seven to 10 years before she took it over, and she was the third owner. She ran the store for 25 years.

The shop used to offer browsable bouquets on site on top of its regular delivery and wedding services. In 2021, though, the storefront became just a studio for arrangements and has stayed that way since.

Ready for a change

Leiman said that she sold the shop because she is ready to retire, both physically and mentally.

“I feel like I’ve completed what I needed to do with the business and was ready to hand it over to somebody who will just continue on with it,” she said.

In her social media posts, she also described how much she will miss the employees, vendors and customers with whom she’s worked.

“I will also miss the joy of seeing gorgeous flowers in a cardboard box, the nearly constant ringing phone, the thrilling feeling when handing a bride her bouquet, the view of an event space transformed by our flowers, the fabulous thank yous from customers, and the leaves and petals found in my pockets and shoes at the end of the day,” she continued.

New faces, same flowers

New owner Amanda Ault has worked with Leiman for a while. The Wilmette resident owns a small floral farm near Lake Geneva and has supplied FlowersFlowers with dahlias for the past four or five years, according to Leiman.

Ault has taken over ownership, and she and Leiman are working together on a smooth transition.

“We want to make sure that this design style and the quality, you know, that I’m matching kind of the floral design that her customers are expecting,” Ault said. “We have a neat style that I don’t know if everybody can replicate.”

FlowersFlowers does boast a particular signature style, a “lush English garden design style of premium blooms with delightful whimsy,” as the website describes.

Ault described her excitement for the future of the business.

“I actually used to work for the city of Evanston,” Ault said. “I’m very excited to just be back in the Evanston community. I love it here and just meeting all the customers and learning about what they love and what they love about flowers.”

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