GLASGOW, Ky. — A lot has changed since Pearl Pritchard Greer bought a small flower shop in August 1955 on the south side of Glasgow’s downtown square.

Greer, then a nearly 50-year-old homemaker, and her husband bought Bethel Flower Shop in the wake of the sudden death of Lucille Doyle Bethel in June 1955.

The business had already changed hands once just weeks earlier, when Clyde Breeding purchased it at auction to settle the estate.

“My grandmother told my grandfather that she wanted a flower shop,” said Cathy Greer Doty, a granddaughter and co-owner of Greer’s Florist.

But business “uptown,” as it was called at the time, was short-lived.

After about five months, Pearl Greer decided she preferred being at home and sold the shop, returning to Pritchardsville where she had grown up and later raised her family.

“She used to go up and cook lunch for my dad and grandfather every day,” Doty said. “She didn't like it that she wasn't home to do that. She just wanted to be home.”

Still, the flower business never fully left the family.

In May 1956, they placed an advertisement in the Glasgow Daily Times announcing Greer’s Florist, now operating from the basement of their home.

Hours were modest, just 2 to 5 p.m. on Sundays and Mondays.

“I guess she waited until she cooked lunch and went down and opened up the flower shop,” Doty said, laughing.

What began in a basement would eventually grow alongside Glasgow itself. The shop remained along U.S. 31E as the city expanded around it, transforming what was once the edge of town into one of its busiest corridors.

By the early 1970s, the current building was constructed and first operated as a garage run by Pearl Greer’s only child, Jerry Greer, father of Doty and her sister Julie Edwards. The sisters have now worked together full time for more than 30 years.

Now, after seven decades serving Barren County, Greer’s Florist is preparing to close its doors May 29.

Over the years, the floral business shifted alongside the community it served, shaped by changing habits, conveniences and demand.

“It’s just not what it used to be,” Doty said. “We’re not as busy, and when we are busy, we’re tired.”

The decision also comes amid personal transition for the family. Jerry Greer died last year, and the sisters made a point to keep the shop open so he would not have to see it close. Another longtime employee, Terry Judd, has also expressed plans to retire, making the timing feel right.

These days, fresh flowers can be found almost anywhere. But for many years, local florists like Greer’s were among the only places people could go for arrangements or even a simple bouquet.

Corsages and funeral sprays once cost about five dollars, Doty said, and for decades Memorial Day and Easter defined the busiest seasons.

“They would get up on Sunday morning and deliver corsages,” Doty said. “This Easter we had maybe five. It’s what every lady would wear.”

For much of the shop’s history, funeral work formed its backbone. Boxes of flowers would arrive and fill the space, including what florists called hampers of glads, basket arrangements of gladiolus used in sympathy work.

Edwards and Doty also remember when flowers came into Cave City by bus, and families would come in to pick up boxed arrangements for holidays like Easter when the shop would be filled with seasonal rushes.

At times, the demands of those holidays stretched the shop itself. During busy seasons such as Valentine’s Day, window units were used just to keep flowers cool under the pressure of high volume work.

The shop’s reach even extended beyond Glasgow.

Greer’s Florist once contributed to floral work for the floral clock in Frankfort during the tenure of Barren County native Governor Louie Nunn, and also created arrangements shaped like local landmarks including the Plaza Theatre.

“I think you have it or you don’t,” Edwards said, recalling the artistry and talent of designers over the years.

Outside of the work itself, the shop became a backdrop for family life. Generations grew up inside its walls, moving between school days and after school hours spent around flowers and customers.

“We pretty much raised our kids here,” Edwards said. “They would come every day after school just like we did.”

“It’s been the best job for us because we’ve got to raise our kids and go to every school function,” Doty said. “It is the perfect job for a working mother. I couldn’t have had a better job.”

Pearl Greer lived to be 104, spanning the full life of the business she helped create, and ultimately see endure for decades.

After the shop closes, Trendy Me Boutique will move into the building in August.

For the family, the closing is less a single moment than the end of an era shaped by routine, resilience and the quiet rhythm of small town business, one that began with flowers once arriving by bus and ends in a storefront that helped define a family for nearly many years.