INWOOD — More changes are coming to the busy intersection at Broadway and West 207th Street that many residents call the heart of Inwood nearly two months after a fire ravaged a retail building there.
Flowers By K&R Florists at 4953 Broadway sold its last flower in Inwood Sunday evening after more than 35 years in business.
The store, which was known both for its floral arrangements and unusual collection of taxidermy trophies — a boar from Texas, as well as a coyote, deer and fox from upstate New York — was a mainstay of the neighborhood and one of the few florists in Inwood.
The Poulos family, which has run the business since 1976, said they planned to retire. Employees from the store will head north about 20 blocks to work at Columbia Florist at 210 W. 231st St. near Broadway, another flower shop owned by the same family.
"After 50 years of working, they decided to retire," the owner’s son Dean Polous, 34, said of his father who is 69 and mother who is 61. "It’s a good thing."
The family, which celebrated the closing with a party on Sunday, said the decision was made after Citibank offered to pay for the family's lease for approximately one year while the bank builds a new, permanent branch in the neighborhood. The bank lost its only Inwood branch last month in the fire.
Citibank did not immediately respond to requests for comment about its plans in Inwood, but told DNAinfo in January that the bank was committed to reopening its only branch in the neighborhood.
“The floral business is a tough one,” Poulos said, “an opportunity like this doesn’t always come along.”
The Poulos family is not alone in making a move.
Alejandro Furniture store, which is located next door to K & R Florist at 4955 Broadway, will soon consolidate with its original storefront at 592 W. 207th St., making way for Citibank to build a permanent storefront inside the 3,500-square-foot retail space, Poulos said.
The owner of Alejandro Furniture would not comment on his plans, but a sign in Spanish hanging outside the entrance to the store states the store will be moving.
According to Poulos, once the bank is in its permanent location the family will decide what to do with the space.
For Alicia Martinez, an Inwood mother of three who has lived in the neighborhood since 1984, the move is a sad one.
“Everything keeps changing here," she said Sunday as she bought two bouquets of flowers for a birthday party she was attending.
Martinez, 43, said she recognizes that neighborhoods evolve, but would like to see the pace slow in Inwood.
"This is my home, I want to see familiar faces, and that is becoming harder every day."