PARKERSBURG - While the flower
business can be fragile, Dudley's Florist has the resilience
of a multiflora rose.
"Our reputation has helped us build a loyal customer
base that has helped Dudley's through hard times for 145
years," said owner Doug Hall. "We've had five
generations buy flowers for weddings and funerals."
Dudley's was opened in 1863 by Hall's great-great-grandfather,
J.W. Dudley, who sold mostly fruit and vegetables with flowers
as a sideline.
As various family members jumped aboard over the years,
more flower shops opened, with as many as 15 running at
once in West Virginia and Ohio during good economic times.
Throughout the years, the various locations have suffered
through every imaginable tragedy from war and flood to fire
and the Depression.
Hall, 57, has been involved in the business for 35 years
and now owns all remaining locations including Parkersburg,
Sistersville, Vienna, and Marietta, Ohio. Longtime and dependable
employees keep things running smoothly.
"It's about having people you can trust," he said.
"They are people who care as much as I do about the
customers, businesses and products. At each location I have
people who have worked a couple of decades with me. We don't
have much turnover."
Hall, whose mother was Anne Dudley, grew up working in the
business.
I delivered flowers when I was in high school," he
said. "When you deliver flowers, you get to make people
happy all day. There is magic."
Hall recalls when business was particularly booming during
the '70s and '80s and stores kept opening.
"We once had four acres of greenhouses on Dudley Avenue
in Parkersburg," he said. "They were torn down
in the early '90s or late '80s when we were mandated to
switch from coal to natural gas because of emissions."
The growing gas bills that followed led to wilting profits
and some stores were closed and consolidated.
"We now get flowers from all over the world,"
Hall said. "They come from many different sources -
South America, Holland, California, Israel. From all over
the world, they are shipped to each florist in a matter
of days. It is amazing."
Tropical plants come from Florida, along with an occasional
lizard tagging along in the foliage.
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