Quadland's Flowers Seeks New Owners for Its Next Century
 The owners of Quadland's are looking to retire after operating the flower shop on Holden Street for more than 50 years. |
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The owners of Quadland’s Flowers & Gifts are looking for someone willing to expand the business and continue its 110-year legacy.
Cynthia Martin, who owns the flower shop with her husband, Thomas, said it is time to retire after operating the shop for more than 50 years.
"We are getting old and it is time to retire if we can," Martin said last week. "The shop needs new younger blood and there is a lot you can do in a flower and gift shop."
The business is listed for $310,000. It is located at 90 Holden St., where it rents space on the west end of the D'Amours Big Y building.
Martin expects the business to sell quickly with the growing creative industry in the city.
"With all of the artists and people coming in from the larger cities that want to get away from the big-city crowds, I think it has a very good chance of selling," she said.
Couple would be willing to train anyone who would want to buy the business. Martin said she would like to see new owners venture more into the gift aspect of the shop and add more art-inspired crafts to the store inventory.
She said Quadland's range has always been far reaching and they take orders from all over the country. Ninety percent of their business now is over the phone and the shop is part of the FTD network.
"It is very well known out of town ... so people who know us call us from all over the country," she said. "People move away, their children move away, their grandchildren move away, and they think Quadland's when they need flowers."
The business was established as Quadland's Greenhouses in 1904 by Warren Quadland. After graduating from Drury High School, Quadland apprenticed at a Philadelphia nursery for three years before returning to buy the greenhouses on Houghton Street next to where he'd grown up.
He opened the floral shop on Main Street in 1921, and later one of his sons joined the business for awhile before branching out into hotels and gift shops. In 1955, the Quadlands retired and sold the flower shop to his niece, Peggy Quadland Pettibone and her husband.
The Martins bought the business in 1962 and moved in 1966 to what was then the Artery Arcade when the space it occupied on the west end of Main Street was consigned to the wrecking ball during urban renewal.
Martin said she and her husband are proud to have served North Adams and be there for people in both their saddest and happiest moments.
"It really feels like everybody is part of a big family and when something sad happens, you are sad right along with them and when they get married and they have babies, you are happy with them right along," she said. "Since I was here I used to watch these kids grow up from 6 and 7 years old when I first started and then they come in for their prom flowers ... I just hope to keep the legacy going.
"It's been going over 100 years and it's been going well."
Tags: commercial purchase/sale, floral shop,
