<Begin Segment 21>

DH: Then after the army, you got married.

JH: Well, yes. First of all, I came back the army, and I was pondering what to do with my life. So somebody suggested that I should start a florist shop, because there was none around in Winslow area. So I looked into that, and I said, "Well, gee whiz, that's part of my background, maybe I will try it." So I did, and I started the business around January... of 1958; and it was a start of a struggling business. And then in September I married Chris.

DH: It was a tiny floral shop.

JH: It was a very tiny floral shop. In fact, I can't give you the dimensions, but I don't think it was much more than 25 by 20, probably about 400 square feet, but we made it work. In fact, we raised two of our children in a little paper cardboard box behind the flower shop, because Chris and I had to operate the business as a two person business, and we couldn't afford to have a baby-sitter, or they didn't have daycare in those days, so we managed somehow or other.

DH: And there are four of us.

JH: Yes.

DH: And so after you married in 1958, you were, you had four children, including me, between 1960 and 1966. And then, describe more about how the business evolved then, from being a little floral shop.

JH: Well, we started as a floral shop, yes. And about three years later, obviously with 400 square feet of floor space we were being squeezed. And the business was doing reasonably well, so we moved about approximately a block away to another building, and then we expanded into a nursery and garden store operation. And then, about seven years later that became too small, so we moved up to the Village Shopping Center, northern area of Winslow, and began a full length garden store business with a flower shop also, and nurseries, and nursery and garden supplies. So it became a pretty thriving business.

DH: And you also opened Bainbridge Landscaping during that time.

JH: That's correct, yes. We had a addendum side business in landscape operation, which I had a partner in.

DH: How many employees did you have at that time?

JH: We had approximately twelve employees that sometimes grew to sixteen during the peak season.

DH: A thriving business.

JH: Yes, it was.

<End Segment 21> - Copyright © 1998 Densho. All Rights Reserved.