Dahl continues the success of Chet's Flowers

Chet’s Flowers and Gifts, the store that’s fun to browse in and enjoy, is 60 years old. For all of us who have known it as simply Chet’s Flowers, Peter Smith told me the original owners were Chet and Bea Johnson. Chet and Bea grew much of their own produce, both flowers and vegetables.

The current owner, Joy Dahl, has owned Chet’s Flowers for six years. She’s been in the floral industry for 36 years. Dahl said, “My sister had a flower shop in Montana. My mother used to work in some flower shops. I freelanced designs in Washington, Idaho, Montana, California, Illinois and Wisconsin.”

Dahl came to Cheney from Redmond, Wash. where she worked in a flower shop. She said her husband, Jim, was looking forward to retirement. Four years ago an unfortunate incident with an oncoming car caused his death.

Dahl has an international accreditation in floral design. This recognition is among approximately 1,400 in the world. She said, “It is an IFD American International Floral accreditation.” Chet’s Flowers and Gifts received a wall plaque signifying them as “Top 1000 FTD LLC 2013.” Dahl said, “We transmit flowers all over the world. We get lots of orders from many other countries. Some of our flowers come ‘direct ship’ from Mexico. They are shipped to distribution centers all over the world.”

Dahl said, “Chet’s Flowers is truly a family business. Even my son-in-law helps at times. My daughter, Becky Jeffries, is my right hand. My mom makes quilts and puts them in the store to sell. We have vases and many interesting objects for all occasions. We love flowers and everybody comes in like family. We rent tuxedos for proms and weddings. There’s a wedding coming up soon in June.” With a happy smile Dahl said, “We love what we do. We love Cheney.”

And we love having you and your family with us here in Cheney. Thank you.

Luella Dow is a Cheney-area author. She can be reached at [email protected].