Feb. 28, 2020

Botanica Flowers & More has closed its colorful storefront, but the business isn’t going away completely.

The final day for the flower shop at 3422 S. Minnesota Ave. was Valentine’s Day.

Owner Jill Knochenmus said she plans to rent a booth at Stacey’s Vintage-Art-Boutique when the addition to the business opens, likely in mid-April.

“I’m going to have plants and other retail stuff as far as nature crafts, hanging stuff, esoterical, metaphysical,” she said.

Stacey’s, which is east of the Tea exit on Interstate 29, rents space to artists and makers, handling sales for them.

Knochenmus bought her business, formerly Meredith & Bridget’s Flower Shop, two years ago. She had been working there as an employee and has been in the industry for 17 years.

“Right now, I’m not going to do the flowers, but I haven’t completely closed that door. It might evolve in some other manner.”

The building is listed for lease through neighboring T&A Service & Supply, which owns the property.

“It’s a neat building,” said Mark Compson, general manager. “It has a walk-in cooler, refrigeration that they used for the flowers. It could be a restaurant, or it could be a catering business. Those would be neat uses.”

The space is about 1,600 square feet, he said.

“It has great potential with the footprint that it has there on Minnesota Avenue. The traffic that goes by is just amazing.”