SYCAMORE – What started as the continuation of a family-owned business is now two flower shops under one roof.
The shop was originally called Kar-Fre, named after the first owners, Karen and Fred Rhynders. The shop was passed down to their daughters, Chris and Michelle, and remained in the family for 43 years.
Kar-Fre was sold to Adrienne Leach two years ago. One month after the change in ownership, she brought Emelia Kuhn onto the team.
It was some time later that Leach decided to sell the property without dismantling or selling the business. She came up with the idea of giving half of the business to Kuhn.
“She basically just handed off to her all of the deliveries and events and the regular everyday workings of the flower shop without the retail side, so that she could do that out of anywhere she wanted to,” Leach said.
With Kuhn handling her own business in the shop, Leach does the same, managing her own business by selling flower coolers around town under her own name, while also operating the retail portion of the shop.
The shop now operates under two names, The Prairie Wildflower and Flowers by Emelia, with both businesses operating under one roof.
The two have created a genuine bond with each other over the years. Kuhn said that Leach has become less of a boss and more of a friend and mentor.
“I’d say our dynamic is a little different here because I’ve worked for a lot of places where you have incredibly strict management and then places where you have no management at all,” Kuhn said.
With her education in fine arts, Leach knows firsthand the importance of creativity and how art cannot be created if the artist is being hovered over.
“You can’t really police creativity. Yes, you can price it in order to make it a business, but overly policing it, I don’t think is great. So I’ve always wanted her to be able to do her own thing as well as our other designers here. It’s the designer’s choice, have fun with it,” Leach said.
Both owners are college-educated within the floral field of work. Kuhn attended Kishwaukee College for her certificate in floral design. She also worked at HyVee Floral during school.
Leach attended the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, where she earned her degree in fine and applied arts with a focus in craft medals and an art history minor. She spent her time after school selling her products at local farmers’ markets.
Once Leach heard of Chris and Michelle Rhynders selling the Kar-Fre property, her love for her community is what drew her to purchase it.
“I didn’t want to just close or be sold to just like a giant corporation to become a florist, but I wanted to continue to provide that space for community and an opportunity for new people to be entering the field, and that’s really what transitioned us now, even though we’re selling the property,” she said.
Leach’s goal is to keep the business within the community and eventually pass it on to someone younger who will do the same. She already plans to pass the store on to Kuhn, allowing her to run it as she sees fit.
“The community is still being provided for and cared for, no matter what happens with the property,” Leach said.
Kuhn plans to continue her work in the future with the goal of one day running her own shop.
“I would love to continue to do this for years to come, and eventually I’d like to own my own shop rather than just rent. I’d like to own my own shop and be able to offer pressed flowers after I do your wedding,” she said.
Kuhn will host the ribbon-cutting ceremony for Flowers by Emelia at 11:45 a.m. on Dec. 9 at 1126 E. State St., Sycamore.
“I think it’s funny. I ended up doing something that wasn’t what my degree was in, but every part of the process of gaining my degree was useful for getting me here,” Leach said. “Sometimes even if you’re on a path that you don’t think is going to work out, if you stick with it, you’ll end up realizing how you can evolve that into something that does work.”
