ELLSWORTH – BoJo’s Creations and Floral Shop in Ellsworth has officially reopened their doors in a brandnew location. The new store is located at 254 W. Main St. in the building that previously housed Jule’s Cleaners. Passersby may have noticed the sweet teddybear swinging out front.

BoJo’s has been in business in Ellsworth for nearly 25 years and their home was at the corner of Main and Chestnut streets for almost 23 of those years. Before moving to that store location, BoJo’s was next to the Subway on Main Street. Bob Larson, owner of BoJo’s did not expect to ever move his store again.

“We did the best with what we had for the 22 and a half years we were in that space, but the new owners just had other plans for the building, so we had to move.” He continued, “When we moved across the street to that building all those years ago, I said, ‘I will never move this business again. I would sell place before I have to move,’ but I just wasn’t ready to close up.”

After learning that he needed to be out of the former location, they had only a few months to find a new space and move the shop. The search started as soon as they found out.

“We moved here in January,” Larsons said. “It took us a while to decide on this space and we weren’t planning on buying this space, but there are not many places to rent in Ellsworth and we didn’t have a lot of choices.”

There was a period of time when they weren’t sure what they were going to do; the last resort was operating out of their home in Plum City or closing for good. Larson wasn’t quite ready to close his doors, however.

“We were running out of time and finally we decided to tour this place and we really loved it,” Larson said. “We negotiated a price that worked better for us, and it really came together somewhat at the last minute. We just had a few weeks to move out of that old space and into this one.”

Once they decided to move into the current space, they started the process immediately. They needed to redo much of the space and make it usable for their business.

“Once we decided we were going to do this we had to start right away; my wife is phenomenal. She is my ‘Bob the Builder’. She's the one who came up with how things were going to work and she fixed up a lot of the smaller things we needed done, like she rebuilt the door frame by the back door and just a lot of those things and she’s good at it,” Larson said.

The family ran into a few obstacles while moving. For example, after starting the move, they all unfortunately contracted COVID-19 and had to put the moving progress on pause for a few weeks. Aside from having to pause for a few weeks, they really hoped to be open in time for Valentine’s Day.

“We had started moving around Christmas and we were half here and half in the other building and then we all got COVID, so we lost about two weeks of moving time and when we came back, we were still sick but it was crunch time and we needed to get it done,” said Larson.

The new location is owned by the Larsons, which gives them more freedom to do exactly what they want with the space. By being able to change the environment they can customize the space to work for the floral business.

Larson is excited for this new space and almost a new beginning for the business. He said he feels a new energy and excitement for the future of his business.

“I’m looking forward to getting to know more people and really integrating and becoming a part of this community,” Larson said. “I’d like to build more relationships with people, a lot of people still might not know we are here, so we want to create those connections.”

BoJo’s offers several services relating to floral and event decor. They create floral pieces for weddings and funerals as well as other events. They also make and decorate event cakes and other desserts. In the store itself, a retail space provides garden and home decor.

They have officially been in the new space for about a month, and they are still settling in. They plan to host an official grand opening in early April with fun events and deals the week leading up to it. April 1 will mark the shop's 25-year anniversary and they intend to celebrate with the community.

“We are going to celebrate our anniversary and have a grand opening all at once and we want to have a week-long celebration and we are excited for everyone to come and see this new space,” said Larson.

To follow along on BoJo’s journey, visit their website at https://www.bojoscreations.co m and their Facebook page at BoJo’s Creations.

BoJo’s retail space in the new store location. Photo by Melissa Thorud