Shamrock Garden Florist has announced it will shutter its downtown Riverside storefront at 18 E. Burlington St. later this month, ending a 14-year run in the village. The store is scheduled to close Nov. 25, according to a letter sent to customers last week.
Kyle Trevoy, a co-owner of the business and the manager of its Elmhurst location, said the store’s lease was up at the end of the month and the family was wary of entering into a long-term lease.
“We live quite a ways west, so for family to be in Riverside on a daily basis isn’t feasible for us,” said Trevoy, who operates the business in partnership with his mother and three brothers. “And finding someone to manage it is difficult to do.”
The Riverside store’s manager for the past eight years, Gaye Longeway, is considering retirement, Trevoy said. She’ll remain with the business after the Riverside store closes.
“We had to make a decision on whether we’d be staying for a while [in Riverside],” Trevoy said. “It didn’t seem right to do it.”
One of the reasons the company opened a store in downtown Riverside in the first place was that Trevoy’s late grandmother, Susan Roney, had lived in Riverside.
“Our ties to Riverside weren’t quite the same once she was gone,” Trevoy said.
Family will continue to operate Carousel Flowers by Shamrock Garden on York Road in Elmhurst, the flagship Shamrock Garden Florist location on St. Charles Road in Lombard and the company’s newest location in far west suburban Winfield, a business the family purchased in 2019.
The flower shop’s arrival in 2008 in Riverside marked something of a new era in the village’s central business district. Three years earlier, the oldest business in the village, Pringle’s Flower Shop at 23 E. Burlington St., closed its doors after 79 years.
Shamrock Garden Florist would become the first commercial tenant to lease space in the then-new Village Center building, at the time a controversial development. The store quickly became a downtown Riverside retail staple.
“When we went in, it was a blank space,” Trevoy said of the storefront. “It’s very bittersweet and emotional to make that decision [to close].”
With a location within 10 miles of the downtown, Trevoy said the company still plans to serve Riverside and nearby communities after the local store closes.
“Our store in Elmhurst plans to continue to service the Riverside community,” Trevoy said. “We definitely hope to maintain a presence in Riverside and the surrounding area.”
He directed anyone with questions to email to Riverside@ShamrockGardenFlorist.com or call 708-447-4612.
