Johnstown floral business closing after 126 years

After marking their 126th anniversary, Neisseners Flowers and Greenhouse is one of the oldest flower shops in Johnstown. It's a business that's been a family affair from the very beginning, but one that the owners are ready to hang up.

The floral cases are empty and so are the walls and shelves. All that's left are a few fixtures and vases as Niessners prepares to close up shop.

"We're just clearing the place out," said Mary Burns, a part-owner of the business. "So we're having some fun doing that. We're finding things that we hadn't known we had for years up in our attic and different things."

It's a familiar Johnstown business that's been around for over a century. The business was started by Burns' grandfather as he made hanging baskets on his back porch along Poplar Street in Johnstown.

"He was proud of his plants," said Burns.

It's been a family affair ever since, ending with the third generation.

"My mother and uncle took over after my grandfather died," said Burns. "Then when my uncle died, my mother gave it to me and my brother."

The business moved twice: once after the 1936 flood and then again after the 1977 flood, when they moved to their current location in Geistown.

Burns said her family made the decision to retire a couple of months ago, but it wasn't until the week before Christmas they stopped taking orders.

"We had a lot of good customers... Some we've been dealing with for 25 to 30 years plus," said Burns. "They were sad to see us go but it just comes to a point where we had to call it quits."

The business has been up for sale for the past five years, but Burns said nobody ever came forward to take it over so they're hoping to sell the building and the land by the time they leave Jan. 30.