CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Stroud's Flowers has been making arrangements along Beatties Ford Road since 1977, when Gerardo and Nancy Stroud opened it. The shop has been operating out of 3201 Beatties Ford Road for more than 35 of those years. Now, with a 30-day notice to vacate from the property's new owners, Stroud's Flowers will be moving.
"Had no clue where we were going to go. We didn't know how to take the news," co-owner, Christina Nivens said.
Christina and her husband, Neil Nivens, took over the business in 2010. Gerardo Stroud was Neil's godfather.
"My husband has been here since he was a teenager," Nivens said. "He would come home on holidays from college and work here."
Nivens says when new building owners took over about two years ago, she was told renovations to the parking lot were coming, along with a five-year lease renewal. Nivens says none of that happened. Instead, more than half way through January, Stroud's Flowers, along with other businesses in the building, were told they would have to leave.
Nivens said she tried to call the building owners, A&M, but says the woman who answered the phone was dismissive.
"I got on the phone, tried to contact the realtor company, the owner, didn't get any direct answers," Nivens said. "She was really dismissive, and I asked to talk to the owner. She said there was no way he could call me back."
Nivens said the woman who answered the phone told her A&M is renovating the units, tripling the rent and could not guarantee Stroud's Flowers could get back in the unit.
Spectrum News 1 called A&M to confirm this information. A woman answered the phone and said the owner was out of town, and was the only person who knew about the property.
"I'm not going to cry, just going to get it together and figure it out because I wouldn't want to rent back if it was so dismissive, and we've been here so long and that's the way we get treated, so I knew then it was time to go," Nivens said.
Christina and her husband did find a new location along Beatties Ford Road, the community that helped the business grow in the first place.
Now, the two are turning a house at 1504 Beatties Ford Road into a home for their business.
Stroud's Flowers is still working out of their old location and plans to be in the new space by mid-March.