From blooms to squeaky curds — Kindhearted Floral has expanded

Kindhearted Floral & Custom Creations on S. Mill St. in downtown Merrill continues to expand its line of offerings to meet requests from community members who shop there. But now they’ve got even more space in which to showcase their plants and flowers, homemade candy, gifts, home decor, and more. While they didn’t add on to their existing building, they did significantly expand the footprint of the store space within the building, after revamping areas of the property that weren’t being used to their fullest potential.
The owners introduced the new space to the community with a grand reopening event on Saturday, Aug. 29, 2026, after holding a ribbon cutting with the Merrill Area Chamber of Commerce several days earlier.

Grounded in care: an organic transition of space
The expansion of Kindhearted Floral was a natural evolution in the heart of Merrill’s downtown business district. Rather than seeking out a new address to grow their business in response to customer requests for additional products, mother-and-daughter duo Diane Goetsch and Sara Zastrow looked inward and decided to reimagine and repurpose their former conference room and an area that used to be a health and fitness center — which had seen a decline in usage after the pandemic. It made sense to the two to turn that space into a part of the retail space so they could showcase more local, Wisconsin, and made in the USA merchandise. The remodel of the former fitness center space alone, completed in late July, added more than 1,200 square feet to the store.
Goetsch said that even as the retail side grows, the building remains a place of service, rooted in its original mission of care and service to the community. Kindhearted Home Care and its adult social day center continue to operate on site. She said the adult clients on “the other side of the wall” have thoroughly enjoyed watching the transition, providing a cheering section for the shop’s new expansion.

This bridge between caregiving and commerce is reflected in the products themselves, which are chosen with a focus on quality, health, and local requests.

Kindhearted is blossoming
What began as a flower shop just last year is blossoming into a sprawling destination for both locals and visitors to the area. When Kindhearted Floral opened approximately 15 months ago in response to the local grocery store closing its floral department, Goetsch opened the florist business in an underutilized entry area in her spacious building. She quickly expanded that into an adjoining space, and the community’s response was immediate and heartfelt. With this latest repurposing of space, the retail business has increased its footprint to five times its original size.
The expansive space makes shopping more enjoyable for customers and allows for more shoppers in the store at one time, as it has gone from a cozy corner shop to a multi-room experience where visitors can truly linger and browse to their heart’s content. More space means customers aren’t elbow-to-elbow and don’t feel pressed for time to have to move out of somebody’s way.
Goetsch said that just as she never built her building with the intention of opening a florist business, this growth wasn’t something she had planned to do when she opened last year. But she is quick to admit that her propensity for recognizing a need in the community and “jumping into the deep end without a life jacket” has served her well thus far. Customers just kept coming into the store and mentioning other things they would like to see available in the community, perhaps products they had sampled elsewhere or something they couldn’t find locally. Goetsch couldn’t help but respond. Building a business on care comes naturally to her, and striking quickly while the iron is hot is a strategic business skill she’s developed over many years in the business world.

It is a brave and emotional, but also quickly weighed and accepted, risk.
When an area cheese shop closed its doors some months ago, customers mentioned the area really did need a cheese shop. Other customers mentioned it would be nice to have a selection of fine wines and spirits, some of which they couldn’t find locally. Still others were looking for more healthy eating options — like gluten-free bakery and products with whole foods and a list of easy-to-read and understand ingredients free from extra additives and MSG.
Goetsch admits she “never dreamed” when she first opened the flower shop that just one year later it would evolve into a curated market of spirits, cheeses, and artisanal gifts.
A visionary partnership of sweet and strategic talents
Goetsch and Zastrow work together to blend their distinct talents and skills to fill voids in the local market and make their retail space a vibrant community hub where customers are seen and heard. It is a sweet and strategic partnership with a vision.
Goetsch oversees the overarching strategy and the artistry of the floral department, in large part by employing a carefully curated staff she describes as a “great group,” including her former manager from Brose’s and several skilled floral designers she lured out of retirement to work part time at the shop. These veterans returned to their craft specifically for the joy of the work, thriving in the shop’s low-pressure, part-time environment that prioritizes passion over production quotas while still enabling Kindhearted to offer fresh and silk floral arrangements, live plants, cash-and-carry options, delivery services, and florals for churches, weddings, funerals, and cemeteries, as well as other special occasions.
When the floral shop initially opened, Zastrow saw an opportunity to share her lifelong passion for baking and candy making with the community right where she already worked. Rooted in her history with 4-H in Marathon County, she began competing in baking, cake decorating, and candy making as young as age five.
That early start led to multiple “Best of Show” awards, a legacy that continues today at the shop where customers can purchase “Sara’s award-winning fudge” and a rotating selection of made-from-scratch filled cupcakes, bars, and her signature “to-die-for” peanut squares, all made on site in their commercial kitchen.
These days, shoppers are finding more and more reasons to make Kindhearted Floral a regular stop for some of the items they want to purchase on a day-to-day basis as well as a go-to place for special occasions. And it’s becoming a must-see stop for visitors to the area, as well.

Curated Wisconsin treasures: why and how they sourced their goods

The massive physical expansion of Kindhearted Floral & Custom Creations was driven entirely by the needs, requests, and direct suggestions of the local Merrill community. By listening closely to their patrons, Goetsch and Zastrow have filled a notable local retail void, transitioning the shop into a multi-faceted local market where almost 90 percent of the specialty items cannot be found anywhere else in Merrill. In doing so, they have embraced a proud philosophy of small businesses helping small businesses, bypassing large distributors to source directly from regional artisans, aside from wine and spirits, which are sourced through traditional distributors.
“It’s the community that pushed us in this direction from their suggestions, their ideas, what the needs are,” Goetsch said. “Because I’ll guarantee you Sara and I just didn’t dream this up by ourselves.” This collaborative, community-first sourcing has resulted in a diverse and highly curated inventory that blends gourmet local foods, boutique beverages, home goods, custom crafts, and sentimental gifts under one welcoming roof.

An array of local foods and award-winning sweets
At the heart of the new food selections is a dedicated Wisconsin cheese department, created because locals lamented the lack of a specialized cheese shop in town. To guarantee unmatched freshness, Goetsch drives directly to regional dairies to pick up fresh Wisconsin cheese.
“Every Thursday we have fresh cheese curds,” Goetsch said. “When I pick up the cheese curds on Thursday morning, they’re still warm when they get back here.”

Alongside the warm, squeaky curds, the cheese coolers are stocked with third-generation Widmer’s Swiss and brick cheese, which are still made using the grandfathered 1920s Swiss recipes brought over from Switzerland. The shop also carries third-generation Masonville cheese, Marieke Gouda, and a newly added line of Hook’s Cheese from Mineral Point, highly celebrated for its sheep, goat, and blue or gorgonzola cheeses. They even offer a hard-to-find favorite of some of the locals — Limburger cheese.
To complement the fine cheeses, the shop offers summer sausages and snack sticks from Geiss Meat, and the co-owners custom-design beautiful cheese and sausage trays as well as curated themed gift boxes.
“We make cheese and sausage trays, and we have our cheese and sausage boxes or our gift boxes,” Goetsch said. She said they can make gift boxes for nearly any occasion, from single gifts to gift boxes for corporate gift-giving.
“All of our candy, nuts, fudge — we’ve expanded a lot of our homemade from-scratch products,” Zastrow said. “But we’ve also then brought in our gummy candies, like the fruit rings, the gummy worms, and the sour patch things that we don’t make.”
This extensive sweet collection is bolstered by an old-fashioned bulk candy station and saltwater taffy, where patrons can enjoy the nostalgia of filling their own bags.
They even carry retro candy sticks (formerly known as candy cigarettes) in distinctive boxes. Those of a certain generation all know what they are and are largely drawn to them because of the nostalgia of their childhood.
To accompany the sweets, Gunkel’s Bakery of Antigo delivers fresh, homemade flax-seed breads, bagels, dinner rolls, pizza crusts, and garlic chips every Wednesday morning.
And for coffee lovers, the shop wholesales custom coffee from Coffee Barrel in Minnesota.
“It is roasted with a fluid air roasting technique,” Zastrow said. “So it’s like a popcorn popper that pushes fresh air through to get the fullest flavor and no bitterness in every cup.”
Goetsch said that because of their direct wholesale partnership, the roaster packages and mails the coffee the very day it is roasted, meaning “it is as fresh as can be and not sitting on a shelf in a warehouse.” Customers can even pre-order custom or seasonal flavors like eggnog in the middle of May with no minimum order requirements.
For a quick morning treat, the shop also stocks Drullers from West Allis, which are firm yet soft donut-pastry dunkers that pair beautifully with coffee. And they offer wafer cookies that are also a decadent treat with a morning brew, whether that be coffee or tea. Speaking of which, they also offer a line of teas at the shop.
The specialty grocery shelves are rounded out with unique regional staples. This includes glass-jar ketchups and sauces from Stevens Point Sauce Company, which are organically spiced and sweetened naturally with Wisconsin maple syrup. Pickled items and fresh fruit-flavored and regular salsas are sourced out of Unity, delivering what Goetsch describes as “a garden in your mouth.”
They also showcase an extensive line of Door County products — including cherry pie fillings, jams, syrups, and cherry juice — along with apple and pumpkin butters.
“Our cherry juice flies off the shelf,” Goetsch said. “People buy this in droves because it is good for gout and arthritis, it’s heart-healthy, cholesterol-friendly, and a source of natural melatonin that helps you sleep.”
Other local treasures include regional maple syrup and honey, homemade pancake mixes, gluten-free mixes (for scones, cinnamon rolls, and stuffing) from Country Home Creations, Milwaukee’s Spice House blends, and a highly unique extra virgin olive oil produced by Vasileios Stamatakos under the Paleon brand. Stamatakos, a former Merrill resident who spoke frequently to local Optimist clubs and now resides in Madison, imports this premium olive oil directly from his family’s olive trees in Greece, where all olives are grown and harvested within a tight 15-square-mile radius.

Boutique sips, spirits, and non-alcoholic alternatives
To create a true one-stop shop experience, Kindhearted Floral & Custom Creations has also introduced a sophisticated wine and spirits department. The wine inventory focuses on boutique “vineyard wines” rather than corporate “boardroom wines,” offering hand-selected vintages from New Zealand, Germany, France, Chile, California, and other locations.
“All of our wines are from small wineries all over the world, but that doesn’t mean they’re pricey,” Goetsch said. Most bottles are priced accessibly between $18 and $24, with single-serve options for around $8.
For those who do not drink, as well as pregnant or breastfeeding mothers, the store maintains a dedicated non-alcoholic section featuring still wines and sparkling options. They also carry imported Prosecco wine spritzers in cans from Italy — available in blood orange and grapefruit juices — which are properly lined to prevent any metallic aluminum taste.
On the spirits side, the shop offers premium “Cane Rock” spiced rum, which Goetsch characterizes as a high-quality “spiced rum for adults,” as well as other bottled spirits.
For those looking to add a convenient beverage option to their gift baskets or picnics, the shop’s selection of single-serve canned cocktails has become a sensation. These pre-made drinks offer a high-quality, bar-grade alternative to traditional canned beverages, focusing on pure, real ingredients rather than artificial mixers.
“They’re already pre-made, they’re all fresh ingredients,” Goetsch said. “They’re very transparent. They say exactly how much the proof is on them and all you do is literally shake them and put them over ice. We sell a ton of those. People really love those.”
Wisconsin natives may want to add a “wash” of their choice (sweet or sour) to their canned Old Fashioned, though, for a more authentic Wisconsin Old Fashioned experience.
The barware section features Wisconsin-themed shakers, shot glasses, cocktail recipe plates, trivets, artisanal old-fashioned and Bloody Mary mixes, and jarred garnishes like pickled beans, olives, mushrooms, and high-end Luxardo, Limoncello, and Amaretto cocktail cherries. Goetsch points out that these pairings are a natural extension of their floral services.
“If your husband is buying flowers, you’re going to buy a bottle of wine, or you want champagne,” Goetsch said. “Everything just sort of pairs well together and starts to group.”
Chocolate goes well with flowers and wine. Cheese complements wine nicely. Fine breads go great with wine and cheese, and you can add in some of the meat selections for a ready-made picnic. Throw in some flowers, and the guys will hit a home run in the romantic date department.

Gifts, home decor, and more
A fun activity for residents and out-of-town guests is the room where customers can create their own custom-scented candles. This area is also stocked with regular candles, artisan soaps, lotions, lip balms, beard oils, and car diffusers. And the shop offers a few perfumes.
In addition to these aromatic goods, the shop’s shelves are decorated with home decor, upcycled vintage furniture pieces, and custom jewelry from Jewelry by Jen.
For those looking for a lasting alternative to traditional funeral flowers, the shop has dedicated a section to garden memorials, stepping stones, and Carson wind chimes.
There are other garden-related gifts, as well. “Cute things to add or to just buy as a gift for funerals to have something if people are looking for something other than flowers,” Goetsch said.

Unexpected essentials — from tuxedo rentals to recycled plastic towels
The owners’ commitment to filling every community void has led to some delightfully unexpected product lines. Because the shop is a staple for local weddings and proms, last year Kindhearted started offering professional suit and tuxedo rentals, complete with bow ties, regular ties, and men’s dress socks available for purchase off-the-shelf, along with silk corsages for last-minute needs if someone forgot to pre-order a fresh arrangement.
“We do weddings and prom flowers, so it just makes sense to have the tuxedos here,” Goetsch said. “Everything just sort of pairs well together.”
The store also features a range of functional home textiles, including wool dryer balls and West Coast eco-friendly flower sack towels made by a woman-owned company. These towels are made entirely from recycled plastic water bottles, with one single towel repurposing three plastic bottles, Goetsch said. Other popular items are packs of funny novelty napkins, travel cribbage boards designed to fit easily inside a tackle box or luggage, cookbooks, and a high-quality line of soft plush stuffed animals.
This extensive and thoughtful expansion has created a truly welcoming, unhurried space in downtown Merrill. Whether a visitor is stepping in to custom-design a gift basket of wine, cheese, and chocolates; pick up a fresh bouquet paired with something cute for a friend’s birthday; buy a soft stuffed animal and fill a bag of nostalgic bulk candy for a child’s birthday gift; or to rent a suit or tux and order flowers for a wedding, funeral, or formal dance, the shop provides an experience defined by local warmth, high quality, and a commitment to community.

A supportive community lifting downtown Merrill
The ultimate goal for Kindhearted Floral is to contribute to a revitalized downtown Merrill where businesses lift one another up. Goetsch is vocal about her philosophy of mutual support, making a conscious effort not to “undercut” other local shops. Instead, she focuses on bringing in specialty items and spirits not previously available in town, ensuring their shop adds to the local variety rather than competing for the same limited resources.
This spirit of cooperation turns a shopping trip into an adventure. Goetsch and Zastrow envision a downtown where a customer might visit Kindhearted for a custom floral arrangement and a pound of award-winning fudge before continuing their “joy of the hunt” at other local establishments to round out their shopping experiences. As the shop settles into its spacious new home, it stands as a testament to what happens when local business owners listen to their neighbors and take a brave plunge into the deep end together.