Mercer Island Florist Celebrates 50th Anniversary

Every Tuesday at 11:30 a.m. — without fail — long-time Island resident and former owner, Earl Payne walks into on his way to a meeting to pay owner Diane Larson a visit. 

“He has been doing that every week since he sold the shop to my mother in 1986,” she said. “He comes by to say 'Hi' and check up on me … we’re like family.”

Payne — who also helped establish the local Rotary club — and his wife Anne bought Browne’s Florist and Nursery in the late 1950s and opened up shop as Mercer Island Florist just North of in 1961.

Now one of the oldest businesses on Mercer Island, Mercer Island Florist is celebrating their 50th Anniversary this month with giveaways and memories.

Memorabilia is currently on display from their 50 years in business, plus they'll have flower giveaways, weekly drawings for prizes all month. Larson is also matching pound-for-pound any food donations brought in for the  Food Bank.

“We just want to thank the community for a wonderful 50 years on Mercer Island,” she said.

For 30 years. Earl designed floral bouquets and Anne did book keeping, and they got so busy, they hired Larson's mother Shirley to work for them part time. Larson recalled helping in the shop after school, and getting the nicest floral bouquets and corsages from Earl for all her school dances and special occasions. When the Paynes were ready to retire, they turned the business over to the Larson family.

After working as a travel agent for 15 years, Diane Larson found that with two children, she didn’t travel as much, and jumped at the chance to work in the shop in 1988.

“Mom said why don’t you come and work for me and learn the business?’" Larson said. "I told her that when she was ready to retire, I’d buy it from her … she was a fabulous teacher so it worked out well.”

Diane bought the shop in 1997, and oversaw the move to its current location at 3010 78th Ave SE in 2003 after Island Market Square was rebuilt.

“It was scary, because people get into the habit of thinking you will always be there, in that one spot, and if you’re not they’ll go to a flower place somewhere else,” Larson said. “But we got a fabulous location with this place, which used to be Rosie’s Hair Salon and a dog washing business. I liked the parking, all the windows and I liked being located near the bookstore, () which is part of “old” Mercer Island.”

One of the first things Larson did when taking over the business was to update the floral designs and put in a computer system — noting that Mercer Island Florist was one of the first retail florists in the nation to have a website.

Larson has also gone “green” with a flower vase and container recycling program and by purchasing her fresh flowers directly from family flower farms in Washington, Oregon and California. One of the most popular gifts is the “Little Shirley” ceramic vase, made by hand by Laura Burman, Diane Larson’s daughter and named for grandmother Shirley Larson who died of liver cancer in 2009. A portion of the proceeds from the sale of the vases goes to support cancer research.

“We’ve always tried to stay current and give Mercer Island what they need, especially as gift stores like Looks and Finders closed,” she said. “Now we have 50 different gift lines, most of them made locally in the Northwest, and 40 different varieties of flowers and plants.”