Walk into Relles Florist on 24th and J streets and smell the aroma of radiantly arranged fresh flowers. Order a bouquet at the counter and notice several plaques, awards and recognitions mounted on the wall. After reading “FTD Top 100 Florists,” “FTD quality florists,” and “Best of Sacramento,” chances are you’ll think you are doing business with good people.

Co-owner of Relles Florist and Sacramento State alumnus, Jim Relles, celebrates 60 years of doing business in the area. Throughout his 34 years of owning his father’s shop, Relles has provided flowers for high school proms, first dates, anniversaries, weddings and birthdays. After many hectic years of owning the family’s flourishing flower business, Relles still manages to maintain a jovial personality.

When asked to describe his experiences at Sac State he kidded, “Drinking- Let’s see, Tuesday night, Wednesday night, Thursday night- No.” Then he chuckled. On a serious note, he said the Environmental Resource and the Business minor program gave him extensive knowledge. “Putting the two of them together gave me a real broad education,” Relles said.

His father, Ross, began the business after he worked for Senator Florist in 1946. Shortly after he died, Jim Relles and his brother, Tom, took over the flower shop in 1972.

“My brother and I decided to stay in the flower business and continue it,” Relles said. “We had about six employees and we took over the business.”

Relles Florist now has about 35 regular employees. However, on holidays he has about 60 or 70 employees.

The business evolved from one store to four stores at one time and returned to two stores, Relles said.

“It’s just hard to find good employees and it’s easier to manage smaller operations,” Relles said. Relles was born in 1947 and raised in Sacramento since then. He attended C.K. McClatchy High School and graduated college at Sac State. “I decided to go to Sac State – the best thing that ever happened to me,” Relles said.

He remembers his experience at Sac State as challenging and says that even though he didn’t use his environmental resources degree, the university prepared him for life after graduation. It was not the subjects that he studied that equipped him for his current profession, but rather the assignments that his teachers put forth.

“College helps people more with the challenges that you have to face to succeed. You have school work and classes and different projects that you have to complete,” Relles said. “You learn how to complete or accomplish those challenges. It gives you a preparation for the future and you can build confidence. That’s probably what college is about.”

Relles advised students who want to become business owners to find a job that will provide an ideal working environment.

“No matter what occupation you get into, do the best you can to work as hard as you can,” Relles said. “Expect to put in extra hours and you will become successful.

“Don’t be afraid to do things because you’re afraid you might make a mistake. Just try to learn from them and don’t do it again because that’s the way you’re going to gain any experience.”

Though Relles obtained a college degree and a successful business, he said his greatest accomplishment is his wife and three children. Relles said that without his parents, he wouldn’t be as successful today. “My mother and father set the foundation on values and work ethic,” Relles said.

As accomplished as he is today, he admits that he had a few regrets. “We learned. We certainly made a lot of mistakes over the years and tried to correct them,” Relles explained. “Probably the reason why we’re successful is because we’re willing to listen to others – and our employees – and make changes, then learn from our mistakes and not repeat them,” he said. He added that the greatest attribute is to be willing to listen to other people and not be so self-centered.

Working at the shop is different everyday, however, two aspects of the business remain the same: Relles has to work with flowers and customers. “The challenge is we deal with a perishable product – flowers,” Relles said.

He also has to delicately deal with consumers’ emotions. “They buy flowers I think mostly because of emotion, birthdays, thank you, love, death,” Relles said. “Those types of things are really powerful emotions.

“If you don’t get the total thing right, that can cause problems.”

Relles has donated funds to many Sac State organizations. “We’ve contributed, for at least 20 years, to Sac State every year,” Relles said. He donates primarily to the athletic department.

“We were involved in athletics growing up. We found that sports is a good training place for the future. You have to work hard, learn to compete, strive for excellence and do the best you can every time,” Relles said. “If you can succeed on the athletic field, you can succeed in life,” he said.

Relles also donates money to other groups, schools and colleges in the community. “My father was really involved in the community. We learned from him that we’ve been successful because of the community and he always felt that it was important to put back into the community,” Relles explained. “My brother and I carried on that tradition.”

Relles is involved in the Rotary Club of Sacramento, a former board member of the Alumni Association, past president of the Alliance Club of Sacramento, past president of the California State Floral Association, and is currently on the Advisory Board of the Stinger foundation, the group that supports Sac State Athletics.

Al Balshor, who worked for Relles’ father, now owns his own floral shop named Balshor Florist. Balshor explained that he was one of their first employees and isn’t threatened by Relles Florist’s success. “We’ve been friends for years,” Balshor said. “We’re friendly competitors; let me put it that way.”

“Jim has done a good job building a reputation for himself,” Balshor commented. “His father would be proud.”

Said Relles: “You can’t rest on your past success. It helps you, but everyday you’ve got to work hard to do a better job to be successful.”

Olivia Gray can be reached at [email protected]