By Corey Everitt
Main Street’s beloved Pakenham Florist is set to close after decades of ensuring the spread of love and affection between locals.
Recently, owner Allie Grant and her mother Lorraine Grant were told the property had been sold and received the settlement date set towards the end of the year.
“It’s all sorted now, the hard decision has been made,” Allie said.
“It’s just sad, I would have liked to, rather than seeing it sold, keep going.
“The Pakenham Florist, it’s been here a long time, even before me.”
Their last day will be on Christmas Eve, Tuesday 24 December, where many locals will come by to pick up there flowers for the family gathering.
“It would be nice for us to have a chance to say goodbye to everyone, all the lovely customers we’ve had and all the friendships we’ve made for 20-plus years,” Allie said.
“It’s hard to tell everyone, it’s happened quickly in the end.
“I’m very grateful to everyone who has supported us in that time.”
A lineage of florists, Lorraine has spent more than 70 years delivering bouquets for ever-important occasions such as Mother’s Day and Valentine’s Day.
The Pakenham Florist was purchased by Allie over 20 years ago after she followed her mother’s footsteps.
Lorraine would join the venture, continuing her passion as a florist that started in 1953 when she was 15 years old.
She would start at a shop on Glenferrie Road, Malvern run by the sister-in-law of Sir Robert Menzies.
Lorraine would then branch out to a store in Balaclava and then her own shop in Glen Waverley for many years before moving to Pakenham as her daughter begun the Main Street shop.
“The customers are like family friends a lot of them, we are going to miss them,” Lorraine said.
“It’s going to be strange, it’s very sad, but still you never know what’s round the corner.”
The silverlining to the development is that they may now experience special occasions together on their own time.
“We’re going to have a Mother’s Day together, we’re going to go out to lunch somewhere and it’s going to be lovely,” Allie said.
Lorraine added with a laugh, “we haven’t had one yet”.
Lorraine is in her late 80s now, still working as usual around the shop in its last week.
Allie thinks it probably would be good for mum to take a break.
“You stay on your feet,” Lorraine said.
“My father’s old saying was: better to wear out, than rust out.”
Before Allie bought the florist, the shop existed around Pakenham for a few decades.
There is a heritage overlay for the building within the Cardinia Shire Planning Scheme.
The brick house towards the back was built in the interwar period and the shop front was built in the 1950s.
It is one of the original buildings from the early commercial development of modern Pakenham.
Pakenham Florist is open from 9.30am to 5.30pm on weekdays, 9.30am to 3.30pm on Saturdays and closed on Sundays.
With the last day on Tuesday Christmas Eve, all are welcome to acquire their flowers for Christmas and to say goodbye.
