“I’m 65 and I’ve been in business 41 years,” Turner said. “I need time to enjoy my family and friends.”
Turner purchased the business in 1971, when it was still Eddie’s Flowers and located on McCreight Avenue.
“We purchased it for $24,000 and basically replaced everything,” Turner said. She held up the only remnant of Eddie Flower’s, a dust pan she calls her “$24,000 dust pan.”
Turner said she remained on McCreight for 25 years before she moved the shop to East High Street.
“There’s a need for a good florist on this end of town,” she said. “Flowers are a way a person with any kind of budget can make their life better.”
Turner said her store was more affected by the general economy than the move of Springfield Regional Medical Center to downtown.
“I think when grocery stores and large other stores started selling floral arrangements is when it slowed down,” she said. “Floral shops used to be the only place that sells silk flowers and things like Christmas wreaths.”
Big box stores have taken the most general flower business that floral shops used to specialize in said Greg Orofino, chair of the florist committee for the OFA, the Association of Horticulture Professionals. Orofino also owns Florafino’s Flower Market in Zanesville.
“It cuts down on floral product and profit you can make from that,” Orofino said. “What we’re left with is items that are more labor intensive. You have to have people to make arrangements, make corsages and floral pieces for funerals.”
That’s why Turner said she also worked hard to really specialize in flower arrangement.
She has studied floral design, constantly goes to seminars to update her skills and travels as far as England to view gardens and learn from other florists.
“I always just try to keep up with the latest,” she said. “You have to have a good eye for color, texture and have a dash of creativity and know you’re good mechanics to put it all together.”
The economy has also taken a toll on flower shops such as B Suzanne’s.
“It’s shaking out now, but a lot of florists have gone out business,” Orofino said. “But it’s starting to pick up again, and we’ve been very very busy ourselves.”
He said the economy and larger stores force floral shops such as his own to carry diverse product lines and include gifts and more creative and unique floral arrangements.
Turner said she has survived by running B. Suzanne’s like “a real lean machine.”
While Turner is looking forward to having free time to have lunch with friends and take care of herself healthwise, she says she will miss working with her customers. She said people from as far as the Virgin Islands call her for her flower arrangements.
“I may see some customers only once a year, but I see them every year for 40 years,” Turner said. “I’ll do the flowers for their babies, for weddings, for their funerals.”
Starting at 3 p.m. Oct. 4 everything at B Suzanne’s is up for auction, including furniture, items, the property and woodworking tools. The auction of items begins at 3 p.m., and the real estate is to be auctioned at 6 p.m.
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