By Mara Mellits, Special to the Reporter
Two years ago, Richard O’Mara closed Cedar Grove Gardens after running the floral and gift shop at 911 Adams St. for more than 44 years. He wanted something less demanding and transitioned to a floral studio, where he made floral arrangements for customers but without a storefront.
But something was awry. He didn’t have a street presence, and the studio was isolating. “I missed my retail customers,” O’Mara said in an interview.
“I didn’t realize that I was a people person until I didn’t have the people.”
On Nov. 11, Cedar Grove @ Ashmont opened for business at 1973 Dorchester Ave., across from Ashmont Station. It was 45 years to the day after he established the floral shop in 1980. There was a small fire in 1984, the store reopened on Nov. 11 that year, so it made sense to open on the 11th this year, even though the store wasn’t exactly ready, O’Mara said.
Richard O’Mara behind the counter of his new store Cedar Grove @ Ashmont, which is located in a ground-level space in Dorchester Avenue’s Treadmark building. Seth Daniel photos
It was a quiet opening, mainly because he didn’t publicize it. However, he will hold a holiday open house next Sunday, a post-Thanksgiving that O’Mara said is a tradition carried over from the old store.
He plans to have food, wine, and cider, and will show customers how florists make centerpieces for the holidays.
The Dot Ave. location gives the shop street presence in an area that has undergone tremendous growth with housing, O’Mara said. He talked about the area in the 1960s, when it was bustling, but in a very different way, than now. The neighborhood has grown to be much more urban but still somewhat gentrified, he said.
As for business, O’Mara said about 10 to 15 people come by per day. With the holiday season on tap, he will be keeping the store open longer.
Vicki Rugo, who lives in Dorchester, said she has been buying from O’Mara for 45 years. He did the flowers for both of her daughters’ weddings, she noted, and he’s the “go-to source” for holiday centerpieces.
“He is a neighbor, and the people who worked in his shop, many of them were familiar faces,” Rugo said. “You got to know people. It felt like a very personal experience.”
Another longtime customer, Joannie Jaxtimer, said there was a “grieving in the community” when O’Mara closed his shop on Adams Street.
“It was the go-to place. You’d always see people you know and like,” she said. “I’m really happy for him that he’s found space that suits his needs and that will be open to all of us.”
O’Mara grew up in Mattapan and said he has always identified himself as being from Lower Mills. His interest in gardening started when he was a kid, when, with no place near him to practice, he had to travel to Needham or West Roxbury to do so. So, he said, he knew that Dorchester would be “an ideal place to open a garden center.”
He went to Boston Latin School and then the University of Massachusetts in Amherst with thoughts of becoming a politician or lawyer. That all changed when, taking his gardening hobby to another level, he switching into UMass’s College of Food and Natural Resources.
Looking back, O’Mara said he’s had more than 470 people work with him at the old store over the course of 44 years. Today, in Ashmont, he is working with three part-time and a couple of contract employees to help out with the holidays.
“I want to bring a little bit of the flavor of the old store in, but also to progress to the next step, and be a little bit more selective,” he said. “And considering how tight the arrangement was in terms of space, this is bound to be a lot better, and more reminiscent of the old store.”
This story is part of a partnership between the Dorchester Reporter and the Boston University Department of Journalism.
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