Evergreen Florist is reborn, revived in the Square
Published on January 2nd, 2008
STONEHAM, MA - - For Reading resident Pat Flaherty, the new year wisps in flooded with promise, especially given the struggles of the last two months of 2007.
Although acquainted with a cozy and visible storefront across the way on Central Street, the Evergreen Florist owner yearns for a return to the Main Street facade that housed her flower shop for over three decades.
On Oct. 23, just after 9 p.m., an electrical malfunction in an upstairs apartment sparked a four-alarm blaze that blackened the entire structure at 397 Main Street, gutting the landmark business in Stoneham Square.
And with a trying two months behind her - where she and her employees labored to meet customer commitments for holiday gifts and early winter weddings - Flaherty now has a little more time to prepare the mountain of forms and documentation for insurance purposes.
"We relocated across the street to where Exit Realty was. It's a nice location, but it's a little smaller and a little harder. We miss the old space because we had so much room and space there," the Stoneham businesswoman said of Evergreen Florist's new storefront.
"That's what I did all day, gather all the paperwork for the insurance company," explained Flaherty, during a phone interview. "It's a little overwhelming and intimidating with all you have to do. But we'll survive and be better than ever, once we get back to the other side of the street."
According to Flaherty, who now works with her daughter Lindsay, she never had second thoughts about whether to return to the Main Street building, which she purchased with her sister in 1977.
However, the Reading resident recognizes that the structure, built in 1900, will likely need to be torn down and rebuilt.
The Oct. blaze, which flared-up and threatened to spread to other neighboring buildings in Stoneham Square, raged for nearly five hours before firefighters were able to contain the flames.
Stoneham Fire Chief Joseph Rolli, who recalled that firefighters ripped open walls and knocked-out windows to control the spread of the fire, described the Evergreen Florist building last October as completely destroyed.
In total, seven area fire departments, including the Melrose, Malden Medford, Winchester, Reading, North Reading, and Woburn forces, responded to scene on Oct. 23 to fight the blaze alongside the 21 local firefighters - six on-duty, and 15 off-duty.
Two local firefighters, Lt. John Scullin and John Gala, were transported to area hospitals for treatment of smoke inhalation.
"They're probably going to have to move to another location in the square given the damage involved, and we couldn't allow Pat Flaherty in to salvage anything possible until Wednesday morning because of the danger of the fire reigniting," Rolli explained days after the blaze.
When she finally was permitted to return to the building, a wave of dread washed over her as she surveyed the interior. Everything was completely ruined.
Just days before the fire, workers had finished setting-up the business for the holiday season, stocking shelves with Christmas decorations, cards, and gifts.
According to the florist, who had re-mortgaged the building in order to renovate the upstairs apartments, she and her employees tried to salvage what they could, but in the end, nothing could be reused from the building.
Luckily, Flaherty had not stored wedding orders and contracts within the building, so she was able to contact those customers the very next day to ensure brides that the florist shop would meet its commitments.
A perfect example of Flaherty's dedication during duress was her ability to come up with the flower arrangements needed for the Stoneham Theatre's "Forever Blonde" premiere just days after the fire destroyed the floral shop and smoke damaged the adjoining theatre.
Within the coming weeks, Evergreen moved its operations to the proprietor's Reading home, where the garage served as a temporary cooler for flowers.
Despite losing half her business in November, Flaherty soon leased the storefront along Central Street, and began equipping the space for operating a florist shop.
"It was devastating, just devastating," the Reading resident said of her first visit to the Main Street building after the fire. "We literally left there without a wire or a piece of tape. We had absolutely nothing. We couldn't take a thing."
"Every day we went in there, because it was so wet and cold, it just got worse, with mold. It was like a scene out of a horror show with it getting worse every day."
"It was a huge thing for us to lease across the street," Flaherty recalled. "It was so important to have the visibility on the [Central Street] corner, so people were able to find us right away."
Given the work involved with rebuilding the Main Street store in existence for over 30 years, Flaherty couldn't put a timetable on her return to the storefront but is hoping to return by next Christmas - the kind of holiday wish that everyone in thw Town of Stoneham is pining for.
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