OGDEN — On Sept. 2, 1948, Jimmy Kusuda opened his first floral shop just above Washington Boulevard and 25th Street.

Kusuda had learned the trade from his cousin in California. So after serving in the U.S. Army, he decided Ogden would be a wonderful place to live, raise a family and run a floral business. He and his wife, Aiko, named it Jimmy’s Flowers.

“He was really the worker bee,” said Kusuda’s son, Mike Kusuda. “He mostly worked in the back making sure he got the orders done and my mom worked in the front, dealing with customers. She was wonderful with people and was really the face of the business. She would talk to everyone who came in and really got to know them.”

As his parents continued to get older, they started thinking about selling the business or having one of their children take over. His father died in 2016 at the age of 99, and his mother died in 2022, just a few days short of her 102nd birthday.

“I have three siblings. My brother died of COVID before they really even knew what it was. He said he wasn’t feeling well and they had told him he had a new virus,” he said. “He never came back home from the hospital.”

His other two siblings were already working in other fields, so Mike Kusuda said he would be interested in giving it a try and is now the owner and CEO, presiding over the company’s 75th anniversary this year.

“I worked there through high school and college, so I knew the business pretty well,” he said. “It’s a very labor-intensive business and it’s changed a lot since 1948.”

The location of the store moved a few times before settling into its permanent location at 2735 Washington Blvd. Two other stores opened up in Layton and Bountiful and a warehouse is run out of Syracuse. Sixty-five employees diligently take orders, arrange flowers and deliver them every day.

“The industry has really evolved over the years. A lot has changed,” Kusuda said. “About 70% of our product comes out of South America and California, and we buy directly from growers so we can get much fresher products at a better price.”

The company delivers flowers throughout the state and parts of Idaho. The wholesale warehouse mainly sells to other retailers and independent designers who plan weddings and other events.

To celebrate the business’s big milestone, Jimmy’s Flowers will be holding a special sale during the third week of September. While supplies last, anyone can come in and buy a dozen roses for $7.50, which usually retail anywhere from $59 to $70.

“We thought it would be something nice to do to commemorate 75 years in business and to also let our customers know how much we appreciate them,” Kusuda said. “We could have never stayed in business this long without our customers and our dedicated employees. We couldn’t even begin to do it all ourselves.”

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