Glidden Florist to celebrate 80 years of business

DeKALB – Oscar Hansen has invited everyone – including President Barack Obama – to celebrate Glidden Florist’s 80th anniversary April 30.

The president hasn’t sent his RSVP yet, but Hansen is hopeful the community will come out for free coffee and tea, live jazz music, roses and historical gifts. Even if Obama can’t make it, DeKalb Mayor John Rey has every intention of going.

“I’d have to say from the city’s standpoint, we appreciate Glidden Florist investing in DeKalb,” Rey said. “Certainly the 80-year legacy is significant. The 40-year investment from the Hansen family is significant as well.”

The celebration will start at 11 a.m. and run until 5 p.m. Attendees will receive a free rose and gifts, and can expect a visit from surprise guests, Hansen said.

Plenty has changed throughout the years since the shop shifted ownership from the Gliddens to Hansen’s mom, Wenke Hansen, in the 1960s, he said.

“The first year was 1936, when Mablel Glidden was growing flowers in her yard and had a greenhouse,” Hansen said. “It was already a prosperous farm then.”

In the 1960s, Wenke Hansen joined Glidden’s and helped establish the storefront at 917 W. Lincoln Highway, DeKalb. At the time, silk flowers were among some of the most popular requests for flower arrangements, and the shop still sells them today.

“You can keep them up all spring – tulips, daffodils,” Hansen said. “We had a long period where there was a plant craze, and we had tons and tons of little green plants, and that kind of faded. Now we’re more focused on the town. Most of our customers are from DeKalb and Sycamore.”

The shop’s space doubled in 1987, with the addition of a large, gabled front room, which would later become the business’ main sales room.

In the past five years, Glidden Florist added a small gift shop, “World Gifts,” where work from 15 different local artists is sold. By shopping locally, customers are not only supporting the community, but also the individuals who live in it, Rey said.

“Locally owned enterprises return 100 percent locally to the DeKalb community,” he said.

Over time, Hansen has adopted shopping independently owned businesses as a cause he’d like to bring more attention to.

“We’ve served our customers here, which is a specific place – there is nothing generic about us,” he said. “It’s different than going to a generic corporate store or a box store.”