Pella welcomes The Timeless Tulip

PELLA — With springtime just around the corner, flower lovers have a new local business to explore. 

The Timeless Tulip specializes in both fresh and silk flowers. The store, located on the west side of Pella, is owned and operated by Cheyanna Sheaffer, a recent Iowa State University graduate who has a passion for plants. The store will be celebrating its grand opening on March 25.

Sheaffer studied horticulture and entrepreneurship at ISU before graduating in December 2022, making a flower shop the perfect career choice for her.

“Opening a flower shop has been my dream since high school,” Sheaffer says, and she’s got big plans for how to grow her dream now that she’s achieved it.

“Eventually, the dream is to have a greenhouse, nursery, maybe a flower farm. I’m just kind of taking some baby steps and starting out with a little flower shop,” she says.

Sheaffer began planning and working toward opening her store while still in school. She says that finishing her degree while starting her own business was a challenge.

“I had gotten all of my permits and licensing in September, while I was still finishing my last semester of college,” Sheaffer says. “It was during finals week that my mom and I flew down to Dallas and went to market and bought all of our home decor, and stems, and vases and everything, so it was a lot of work to be finishing school and also starting a business.”

Sheaffer was able to get some valuable experience working with flower displays before she left ISU.

“Once I graduated, I scored the opportunity to do the graduation flower for the stage commencement, so it was cool to see my own flowers on stage as I walked across,” she says.

Then it was home to Pella, where the challenge of kicking off a florist business in February — with Valentine’s Day just around the corner — waited for her.

“It was a lot of work and a lot of pushing to get open for February 1, but it was ideal to be open for Valentine’s Day,” Sheaffer says.

So far, it’s going well.

“It’s been really good,” she says. “Word-of-mouth in Pella travels, and it’s doing great for being open a month and during a hard time of year for businesses. I’m really impressed with how it’s working out.”

Sheaffer’s store is housed in what used to be an office space, meaning some imagination was required to turn it into a flower shop.

“It was kind of difficult and took some creativity to create it into a home decor space, as well as the flowers, but that’s kind of what I like about it. I have different rooms with different themes and items in each room," she says. "You aren’t walking in a door and completely overwhelmed by this giant open space just full of items. It was fun to create the themes."

Sheaffer also sells home decor and offers floral event rentals and wedding design services.

“I have an area on my website where people can request a consultation for wedding event florals. I offer fresh and silk designing. I have event rentals, bases, arches, table runners, lanterns, whatever," she says. "Setting up a consultation is, you come in, we sit down, you bring in any Pinterest boards, dream boards you have of your wedding, and I just work with your budget and get it how you envision."

Sheaffer is looking forward to the store’s grand opening from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. March 25. The event will feature specials, snacks, drinks and door prizes.

For more information about The Timeless Tulip, contact Sheaffer by calling 641-628-1839, or visit her website at 3tflowers.com.