By Deborah Reed
WKTV Contributor
greer@wktv.org

The name Flowerland has been synonymous with “garden center” and “personalized service” in the greater Grand Rapids area for the past 77 years. The Flowerland reputation and service remains intact, just within two locations instead of its previous three.

On July 3, 2025, Flowerland owners Steve Harkema and sister Sue Jeurink closed the doors of its Wyoming location – the garden center’s place of origin.

“The Wyoming store was a special place because it evolved from there, and there’s a sadness to that,” said Flowerland Project Manager Bev Harkema.


Check out this Cool Slideshow of Flowerland History

Harkema, along with her husband Steve (CEO) and his sister Sue, joined Flowerland during their teenage years. They served in various roles and now provide essential leadership as the business moves toward its eighth decade of service.

“The other two stores are still there with the same great quality selection,” Harkema said. “The business is still strong, just existing in the two locations instead.”

Humble beginnings

Considered Grand Rapids’ destination garden center since 1949, Flowerland began as a simple fruit stand.

A descendant of Netherland gardeners, Jacob Tuinstra made his living by selling fresh produce door-to-door at nearby homes. The business grew quickly when Tuinstra’s children, Doris and Bob, joined him after returning from service in World War II. Before long, the family was selling plants as well as produce.

They incorporated in 1949 and opened their first store, bearing the name “Market Basket” and then “Your Fruit Basket,” on the northeast corner of Clyde Park and 28th Street, formerly known as the Abram J. Longstreet farm.

Wyoming farmland was quickly replaced with homes and businesses as people moved to areas outside the city of Grand Rapids. The Tuinstra’s garden center grew rapidly in notoriety due to floral shows, extensive Christmas displays, arts and crafts, home decor and patio furniture featured alongside the center’s garden supplies and plants.

To reflect its expanded offerings, the store changed their name to “Fruit Basket Gardens” in 1960.

As the store continued to flourish, out-of-state visitors became a regular occurrence. It is not surprising that construction on a new and larger store began in 1966.

Upon being labeled a “department store-type garden center” in a 1967 Grand Rapids Press article, the store changed its name once again to “Fruit Basket Flowerland” to better encompass the range of offered products.

Sid Harkema joined the business in 1953 as a part-time sales clerk, then inhabited the role of nursery buyer. He eventually became CEO and Chairman of the Board where his ability to predict future growth led him to acquire property on Alpine Avenue (1973) and 28th Street in Kentwood (1979) well before they became bustling commercial areas.

Flowerland Show on WOOD Radio

Similarly, Rick Vuyst worked part time at the business as a teenager, later becoming CEO. In 1993, Vuyst and Hank Prins created the Flowerland Show on WOOD Radio, where they emphasized plant knowledge and gardening expertise. The award-winning show ran until Rick’s retirement in 2022.

Eventually, “Fruit Basket Flowerland” was shortened to “Flowerland,” but its reputation for customer service and ability to solve customers’ plant problems only continued to increase.

A logistical shift

Harkema says that the closing of the Wyoming store has prompted community members to cite demographics and its location in an older part of town as the reason.

“It’s not like that at all,” Harkema said. “It’s not because of the demographics of the community or anything like that; it’s just simple logistics.”

As the Wyoming location decreased in activity and the Kentwood and Alpine stores gained more business than staff could comfortably manage, Flowerland executives began searching for the reason why.

It wasn’t long before they realized customers from Holland, Hudsonville and Byron Center areas favored the larger selections at the Kentwood store located a mere six miles from the Wyoming location.

“When you’re going to buy perennials, you’d rather have 250 varieties, not just 100,” Harkema said.

Unable to justify the labor needed to keep the Wyoming location open while the other two stores were hard-pressed to keep up with increased traffic and demand, Harkema said, “it just makes sense” to close that location and concentrate efforts on the larger stores.

Beating the odds

Area integration of big-box stores have presented another challenge for the independently owned business, but Flowerland continues to thrive. Bev Harkema attributes their long-term success to the personal service, knowledgeable staff and selection of plants and flowers not offered at retail chains.

“Service is a big one because we have knowledgeable sales staff back from the days of the Plant Doctor (Tuinstra) who had his little booth, and now you have a desk at the different departments where people can get information,” Harkema said.

While good information can be found on the internet, Harkema said many people want the West Michigan-relevant product selection and personalized knowledge found with in-person interactions at Flowerland.

“We’ve got long-time people with so much knowledge specific to this area as opposed to trying to weed through the Internet,” Harkema explained. “That’s something that we offer that you can’t get somewhere else.”


Flowerland also is set apart from retail chains because they sell flower varieties that do not make the bestseller list and are hard to find elsewhere.

“Box stores sell the best sellers, that’s just what they do,” Harkema said. “We have varieties that aren’t best sellers. Maybe you only have 12 of them the whole year, but if you want that one, you can find it or you could order it.”

Happy nostalgia

The retention of Flowerland customers and employees throughout generations is a testament to the atmosphere of care cultivated throughout the better part of a century.

“We have a number of long-term employees,” Harkema said. “Everybody who was at the Wyoming store got transferred to the other stores if they wanted to. It’s kind of fun because they’ll see the customers who used to shop at Wyoming come to the other stores, and they still have those connections.”

Nostalgic stories of patrons’ first exposure to gardening with Flowerland and generational visits with family members are one of Harkema’s favorite parts of the business and attests to the positive impact Flowerland has made in the community throughout the years.

Harkema said she hopes the former Wyoming Flowerland property sells to a reputable commercial business that can contribute to the area’s needs.

Continuing to nurture community 

Open year-round, Flowerland offers a diverse selection of resources, plants and products for plant lovers. Learn more about Flowerland resources and products here.

As Flowerland owners concentrate efforts on the two remaining larger locations, they are dedicated to continued high-quality shopping experiences for their customers and support for the local community through their Flowerland Perks program. Click here to learn more.