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Kara Creasy, Vintage Flower Market
If you’d told me in high school I’d end up a florist, I would’ve laughed.
I was born and raised in Laclede County. Conway, to be exact. I grew up on a dairy farm. I’m a third generation dairy farmer. My mom and dad still milk cows today. That was my first job. Milking cows. Before and after school. That’s just how it was.
I went to Conway all the way through. Kindergarten to senior year. Thirteen years in the same school. We had a small class, probably 50 or 60 of us. After graduation, I went to nursing school. I thought that’s what I wanted to do, but I didn’t really like it. I didn’t even finish. I’m not sure I ever really knew what I wanted back then.
Then I started a family. That changed everything. I have three kids: 13, 10, and 3. Big gap, I know. The last one was a surprise, but honestly, her big brothers are crazy about her. They’re the best help. And she loves them just as much. It’s loud and chaotic and beautiful.
I married a Lebanon alum. We met at a tractor pull at the Tri-County Fair. I was actually on a date with someone else at the time. But that’s what you did. You met people at tractor pulls or cruising through town. I was related to half the people in Conway anyway. We’ve been married almost 14 years. He’s a truck driver and tries to stay in Missouri so he can be home more. It’s not always easy, especially with a toddler, sports, school stuff, and running a business. Sometimes I feel like a single parent. But if there’s an emergency or a sick kid, I can leave. That’s one of the blessings of being a business owner. It’s hard, but I can do it.
The flower shop started when my oldest was one. My mom and I opened a little place in Conway called Vintage Corner Boutique. Gifts, fresh flowers, consignment. We did that for five or six years, just four minutes from home. But we needed more foot traffic. One day Mom was downtown, saw this beautiful building for rent, and said, “Let’s try it.” She used to work downtown when I was little at a place called Four Seasons, so it felt like coming full circle.
Flowers kind of found us. I worked in a flower shop in college, just part time. My mom did too. And my grandma ran the flower department at Consumers for years. They even had a shop in Conway back in the 80s. I guess you could say I’m a third generation florist. It’s in our blood. My sister-in-law Niki joined us. She does all the businessy stuff. Loves numbers. I’m not a numbers person. And my father-in-law delivers for us now that he’s retired. It’s a real family operation.
We’ve been downtown since 2017. Back then, there were a lot of vacant buildings. We’ve seen it through so many stages. The trees out front, the landscaping, the triangle planters. They were all still here. And now there’s hardly anything empty. The parking’s full. It’s grown. It’s changing.
Our building is one of the oldest downtown. That’s part of why we chose it. We fell in love with the look. The front of it, the cast iron around the windows and doors. It’s so cool. Of course, it’s got its quirks. It was built before plumbing, so all of that had to be added later. But it’s vintage. It’s got soul. And the vibe inside just happened. No real planning. It’s just who we are.
I do the fresh flower arrangements. My mom handles the silks. Niki handles the numbers. We each have our lane. I also run the social media. I try my best. Some days I feel like I’m just winging it, but I want people to know we’re here.
We get flowers three times a week. I try to keep it affordable. We might throw in an extra rose just to make it special without charging more. Most people walk in and say, “Can you make me something colorful?” and I just go. Ten minutes later, it’s done. Sometimes people bring in a vase that belonged to their grandmother, and I get to fill it with something meaningful. It’s not cookie cutter. It’s personal.
Flowers are emotional. People walk in happy, grieving, surprised, nervous. I’ve had people come in just to talk, just to get something off their chest. We know our customers by name. We know their stories. Some of them we see every week. More than once a week, even. Sometimes I joke we should be counselors. I think if I hadn’t done this, I might’ve gone into counseling. I love listening to people. I really do.
And I still go back to the farm sometimes. A couple weekends ago, my dad asked if I could help work cows, and I did. My kids don’t always see that side of me, but it’s still there. My oldest came along and saw it, and I think it surprised him a little. Like, oh wow, Mom really is a farm girl.
I didn’t go to florist school. I didn’t have a five-year plan. We just dabbled in flowers and one day decided, let’s make an arrangement, let’s try this. Coming downtown was a big change, but it was the right one. Lebanon likes flowers. People walk in and say, “Can you just make me something?” and I do. I love it. I never knew I was going to do this. But now I can’t imagine doing anything else.
