Owners of a local flower shop will end operations next year, citing personal reasons.
By Anna Kayser
After more than 50 years, the Pleasant Valley Garden Center and Flower Shoppe, 1301 S. Gilbert St., will close permanently sometime in January.
Owners Aleda Kroeze Feuerbach and husband Kerry Feuerbach decided to sell their land so that a new city project could be developed.
They looked into rebuilding the shop near the golf course located on Sand Road in Iowa City, but the cost was too high.
The golf course will stay open, and Dawn Bouslog, a worker at the garden center for 10 years, will opening a new set of greenhouses outside South English, Iowa.
Right now, the greenhouses are nearing completion. Initially, Bouslog said she will grow annuals and perennials, which is only a fraction of what the shop grows now. She plans to start small and go on from there.
Customers’ reactions have been all over the board. Generally, they are sad that the store will close, but a lot of people plan to follow the greenhouse business to the new location.
“I’m grateful that I had the opportunity to work here and meet the customers,” Bouslog said. “If it wasn’t for the customers, I probably wouldn’t have done this.”
The decision to close down was difficult for Feuerbach and Kroeze Feuerbach to make, but Feuerbach said it comes at a good time.
“The timing seemed to be right for my wife and I,” Feuerbach said. “We were both very distraught at the time, but we are coming to terms with it now.”
The two have no children and are growing into their 60s. Feuerbach said it is time for them to slow down.
The City Council rezoned the project on Tuesday. Officials have not received any specific plans, but they anticipate a mixed-use project, City Manager Geoff Fruin said.
Although the Pleasant Valley closing will change the environment on Gilbert Street, it will provide a new opportunity for the property owners in that part of town.
“Pleasant Valley has been a staple in this community for a long time,” Fruin said.
Kroeze Feuerbach’s father started the business in 1952. She then inherited the business from her parents, and her husband joined her. They got the blessing from Kroeze Feuerbach’s mother to permanently close down.
Through this difficult transition, the couple are staying positive and being realistic.
“It’s been a long, hard decision to make,” Kroeze Feuerbach said. “It’s bittersweet as we go down the final several weeks. It is what it is; I can’t change it, and we’re going to make the best of it.”