'Always an honor to help out a family'

EVELETH—Eveleth Floral and Greenhouse has been at 516 Grant Avenue since 1920 and this year turned 104 years old with many years to come.

Owner Jamie Falkowski, in an email interview, said, “I grew up in this business, and everything I know came from my parents Jim and Virginia Squillace. They mentored me throughout the transition into their retirement. Even though they never actually completely retired. I was fortunate enough to have them around to answer questions while I was still learning. So, I have to give my success to having them teaching me.”

Falkowski said, “I always have to give credit to all the wonderful, helpful, loyal employees I have had throughout the years. I certainly could not have success without a great staff. They have stood by me through many ups and downs in this business. My late husband Mark was always there for me, helping me to deliver, being a sounding board, or just handling things at home so I could take care of business.”

Falkowski said the business has many rewards. “It is always an honor to be chosen to help out a family when they have experienced a loss. Compassion and understanding are important as choices are not easy to make, and we try to guide them through the best we can without overwhelming them with decisions at the same time. We experience the good with the bad on a daily basis.

Weddings, birthdays, anniversaries and often ‘get me out of the doghouse!’ and fill our days with the joy.

“We have shops in both Virginia and Eveleth and the communities have always been supportive of us. Local businesses, schools, funeral homes use our services. The younger kids come to us for proms and later in life I find myself doing weddings for them!! People remember when you do something good for them and they come back to you when the need arises for something else.”

Falkowski talked of some of the downsides. “We struggle with the many on-line ‘order gatherers’ or middle men that are out there in the floral industry on line: They trick customers into thinking they are “locally owned” or that they are “located in Eveleth” when they are just a person sitting at a computer somewhere in the world. Until a customer gets disappointed, that’s when they find out they have not been dealing directly with us. Getting customers to understand that they should call us directly instead of falling into the online trap is our biggest struggle.”

She added, “There are constant changes in our industry and of course we have been experiencing the increases in prices along with every other business. It certainly costs us more to run this business than it used to, but everyone deals with that. We’ve had to adjust our pricing to make a profit as our operating costs have increased. It is hard to sell a non-necessity item when people have to pay so much more to feed their families and such.

In a story from 2021 Falkowski said, “It has much of the look it had back when it was started in 1920 by her maternal grandparents, Paul and Viola Janisch. Second-generation owners were Falkowski’s parents, the late Jim and Virginia Squillace. Now Falkowski and her four sisters, Linda Bergerson, Paula Squillace, Bonnie Bremer and Gina Borgen, own the business.”