It was a balmy February afternoon. I walked briskly but nervously down the street, gazing up at colorful awnings and plastic banners with my notebook and pen in hand. After being rejected by a pharmacy and a diner, I was feeling pretty apprehensive about entering the next store to ask for an interview. Luckily, my visit to florist Anthony Nunziato’s shop turned out to be much more successful. Behind the all-glass storefront of the Enchanted Florist & Greenhouse, dozens of flowerpots and the flora they contained were spread across the floor. In the back, Mr. Nunziato and his son, also named Anthony, sat at a granite countertop, the leftovers of their Chinese takeout lunch placed casually to the side. They welcomed me into the store with a smile, and when I asked for an interview, they cordially told me to pull up a chair.

Mr. Nunziato has lived in Maspeth for the past 35 years. His grandparents immigrated to New York from Italy in 1912, and settled in Woodside, Queens, and his grandfather began working as a florist and mausoleum owner. Mr. Nunziato’s grandfather and his wife had a total of 11 children, all of whom learned about floristry while helping out at the family store in their youth. Eventually, many of Mr. Nunziato’s aunts and uncles became professionals, working as bankers or executives. Mr. Nunziato himself considered becoming one also; in fact, he was a law student at St. John’s University when he decided that he’d much rather work as a florist. He cited the attention to detail and great communication skills that the job requires as some of the top reasons he loves floristry: “Every day is different,  and it is much more satisfying to work with something new every day than to sit at a desk and stare at papers all day”. Three decades later, he has not regretted his decision. The small store only has a few employees, including Mr. Nunziato and his son, but they are all passionate about their work and strive to make sure the customers are satisfied each day.

Located near the fork where Flushing Avenue splits off from Grand Avenue in the heart of Maspeth, Enchanted Florist and its neighboring businesses are all part of a transition zone from the bustling main streets to quieter residential areas. Away from the main routes, Maspeth seems more like a quaint suburb than a part of New York City, which is known for its hustle and bustle. In Mr. Nunziato’s words, Maspeth has always been a sort of hidden enclave, and he thinks it would be good if more people knew about its rich history and tried to preserve more of its small-town character. Because no subways stop in Maspeth, and buses run infrequently, the neighborhood has remained somewhat secluded from the rest of the city. The community is relatively tight-knit, and they have consistently rallied against negative effects of overdevelopment and gentrification. Mr. Nunziato was one of the key advocates for turning the space where the Elmhurst gas tanks had previously been into a park, instead of building a Home Depot, which the land owners had planned to do. The mayor eventually threw his support behind the community, and the newly built Elmhurst Park officially opened in May 2011.

When asked about his customer base, Mr. Nunziato said there isn’t really a “typical” customer, although the majority of them are Caucasian. Because Maspeth, and all of Queens in general, is so diverse, he has customers from myriad backgrounds and ethnicities: “[My customer base is] still mostly European, but it’s constantly changing. Queens is constantly changing.” To get a sense of how much diversity there was in Maspeth when the business was opened in 1985, I looked at the 1990 Census data. In Community District 5 (Ridgewood/Maspeth), white people outnumbered other minorities in a nearly 8:1 ratio. The population was 88.4% white, and 11.5% minority groups. In 2010, however, the Census data showed that the number of minorities living in that district had increased almost threefold. White people still comprised a large majority of the neighborhood, at 70.5%, but the much greater number of minorities (around 29%) correlates with Mr. Nunziato’s accounts of his increasingly diverse customer base. Similarly, Queens as a whole also experienced the same kind of demographic shift from 1990 to 2010. In the 1990 census, the population of Queens was 57.9% white, but by 2010 it had decreased to 39.7%. The percentage of white residents for 2010 may be a bit lower than actual, however, because the 2010 census had much more detailed choices for race than the 1990 one did. As a result, the figures I referenced only counted the people who marked themselves as white only, and excludes multiracial people who are white in conjunction with one or more other races.

Mr. Nunziato also cited the increased presence of younger customers as a factor for some of the changes he made to his business. In order to keep up with the changing trends, he began selling items such as chocolates, pastries, and greeting cards to add variety to his inventory and enhance the floristry experience. Now, instead of just getting a bouquet, customers can also buy a nice greeting card and some chocolate to upgrade their gifts. Mr. Nunziato tries his best to order these products from small, local farms and businesses – a gratifying example of business owners helping each other in a world so focused on increasing profit margins and driving down expenses.

About seven or eight years ago, the storefront was also renovated. Looking through the Google Maps archives, I found that between 2007 and 2011, the appearance of the store changed greatly. In the renovation, the awning was removed, the doors, storefront glass, side banner, and title plaque were all replaced, and lamps were added above the new plaque. Mr. Nunziato did not mention the renovation during our first interview, so I reached out to him after I saw the archived images and he told me it was a necessity: “We’re located right next to the cemetery, and we had a lot of squirrels that were nesting in the area. The structure of the store used to be all wood, and it wasn’t very strong”. He decided to remodel the store to look as it did early 1900s, using old pictures as a guide. Coincidentally, these changes took place right when the prevalence of hipsters in New York was increasing. They not only revitalized the store, but also served the dual purpose of appealing to the younger residents, who were, in Mr. Nunziato’s words, “looking for something new”.

Though Maspeth has not changed too much over the years, the world around it has, and due to the advent of online megastores and delivery services such as 1-800-FLOWERS, Mr. Nunziato noted that he lost some customers to the seemingly more efficient businesses. However, Mr. Nunziato said, it’s important to note the distinction between flower shops and florists. Flower shops sell you pre-packaged, cookie-cutter bundles of flowers. And if they were ordered online, they arrive in an unflattering cardboard box and can even be damaged. Florists, however, tailor their services to individual needs and are with you from life until death and everything in between. For example, if you come to Mr. Nunziato’s shop looking for a Confirmation bouquet, he will sit down with you and discuss all the details until you find the perfect match. Earlier in February, some customers came to inquire about a corsage, and Mr. Nunziato spent a good deal of time solely going through his stock of ribbons with them. When I called the store to ask a few follow-up questions in May, Mr. Nunziato’s assistant told me that a woman had recently come from Lake Ronkonkoma – a Long Island town almost 50 miles away – just to order some flowers. Flower shops are unable to provide this kind of thorough, individualized service, and Mr. Nunziato said a big part of keeping the business going is being genuine, as well as really caring about helping his customers.

Mr. Nunziato likes to think of everything in life as a cycle. He says that even though some customers began buying from generic flower shops, many of them eventually came back to his shop because they preferred the full-service, custom flowers more. Past employees have also reached out to thank him after moving on from their jobs there because they felt that the close-knit work environment provided by a small business was great for their personal growth. They also felt that they learned a lot more at his shop than they would have if they had worked at big-box stores, where every employee is just another number. Our transition from a walking society to a driving society and then back again has also helped Mr. Nunziato’s business: “For a long time, we used to be a walking community, and then when the malls came everyone drove and went past the small stores. But now we’re going back to the walking and people like that flavor. Again, it’s a cycle. Everything is a cycle.”

Despite the shifting demographics, Mr. Nunziato keeps up with changing customer demands by offering a wide range of products and providing high quality customer service. He is also an active member of his community who genuinely cares about making life better for everyone. In September 2013, he donated dozens of roses to a 9/11 memorial service held in Queens’ Forest Park. Mr. Nunziato has also played an active role in the Kosciuszko Bridge Project for more than 15 years. His compassion and congeniality lend his store a friendly, relaxed atmosphere, and it is easy to see why his customers keep coming back, even when they move away. Though the future will undoubtedly bring more change and greater challenges, I think Mr. Nunziato and his staff are well equipped to handle any difficulties. Adaptability is a quintessential skill for a business owner, and it is all the more important when one’s surroundings are rapidly changing. Mr. Nunziato’s resourcefulness has helped keep his store running for more than thirty years, and his numerous contributions to the community have made him a well-respected resident of Maspeth.

Moving forward, Mr. Nunziato doesn’t anticipate changing the store much. When he first bought the store 30 years ago, he kept the inside largely the same, only upgrading what he needed to. As a result, the refrigerator and cash register still look as they did in the 1920’s, and combined with the antique lettering on the storefront, lend the cozy shop a distinctive, vintage atmosphere. He’s thinking of adding a windmill to the side of the building, as well as switching to solar-powered floodlights outside the shop to reduce their carbon footprint. But no matter how much he tweaks the physical appearance of the store, his greatest priority is maintaining their longstanding tradition of excellent customer service. As sociologist Sharon Zukin said, “The soul of the city is it’s people, it’s small shops [and] the diversity of the crowds”. It’s hard to imagine large chain store owners volunteering their time to improve the community; they lack the personal connections to the residents that small business owners cultivate throughout their years of operation. I wish him and his store all the best for the future, although staying in business should hardly be difficult, considering the kind heart and friendly demeanor shown by Mr. Nunziato and his employees.

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References

Colangelo, Lisa L. “Park’s worth the Effort: Green Space Built on Old Gas Tank Site.” NY Daily News. NY Daily News, 3 May 2011. Web. 31 May 2016.

Infoshare.org. Community Studies of New York, n.d. Web. 31 May 2016.

“Minority Population in Maspeth, 1990 and 2010.” Map. Social Explorer. Social Explorer, n.d. Web. Jul 27 13:58:03 EST 2010. (based on data from U.S. Census Bureau). 31 May 2016.

“Never Forgotten: Glendale Remembers Victims of Sept. 11 Attacks.” The Forum Newsgroup. The Forum, 12 Sept. 2013. Web. 31 May 2016.

“Will New York Become One Giant Suburb?” Big Think. Bigthink.com, 22 Feb. 2010. Web. 31 May 2016.