State Fair Floral’s new owners Machie and Annalisa Limas plan to leave many services the same at the well-known flower shop, but also hope to introduce a new line of one-of-a-kind gifts and even photography options in the future.
The couple purchased the downtown business from Betty Moody, who decided to retire after 10 years. They officially became the owners as of 9:02 a.m. Friday, Machie said while at the shop Friday afternoon.
Moody noted that the business has been in operation in Sedalia since 1912. She added that she would remain at the shop for a while to show the Limas’s the how the business operates.
Annalisa said this was their first venture into owning a floral shop but she and her husband had previously owned a cleaning business and a karate school in another state.
The Limas’s recently moved back to Sedalia. They have three children and previously lived in Sedalia 15 years ago. Their son, Issac Limas, and his family still live in Sedalia. The Limas’s other son, Chris Limas, lives in Washington, D.C., and their daughter, Melissa Atkinson, lives in Colorado.
“I was with Cargill for 35 years,” Machie said. “When we transferred from here to Pennsylvania, with Cargill, our son took off to do Christian ministry and then when he came back he settled here …. We’d always liked this area, when we were here, and this is where we wanted to retire, so, we started looking for a business here. We weren’t really sure what we wanted but Anna ran across Betty’s advertisement on Facebook.”
They followed up on the “for sale” announcement and decided to purchase the business.
Annalisa, an artist, added that she loves flowers and that is what drew her and her husband to buying the floral company.
“I love color,” she said.
The couple plans to maintain the original atmosphere of the business before making additions.
“Initially we want to learn the business really well, and stay with the traditional and what has worked for Betty,” Annalisa said. “Then, gently add some of our ideas to it and see how that works.”
Moody noted that the couple was also interested in attending national wholesaler floral shows to gain a better understanding about the industry.
“You do learn a lot of ideas, fresh ideas, when you go to those,” Moody noted.
Annalisa said she is hoping to attend floral shows in Chicago or St. Louis.
“Later on we are also going to be offering photography … out of the floral shop,” Machie said. “We’ll do photo shoots for graduations and things like that, and weddings.”
They also plan to add one-of-a-kind gifts made by local artists, food gift items and gift baskets.
“Men are sometimes the hardest to buy for, so we’d to maybe put together a basket for like Valentine’s Day for men,” Annalisa said. “We want to have things you probably won’t find anywhere else.”
The couple are looking for a variety of local artists who might be interested in having their work at the floral shop.
During the transition the shop will not close. It will remain open and observe regular hours.
State Fair Floral, 520 S. Ohio Ave., is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday and from 9 a.m. to noon Saturday. For more information, call Machie or Annalisa Limas at 826-1700.
