CLEVELAND, Ohio (WOIO) -“This is the last of the stuff we’re going through,” said Shelli Slapnik March, walking through the store for one of the last times with her husband, Bob. “Lotta stuff. Lotta memories here. My life, my life is here.”
Since 1920, Slapnik Florist has anchored the corner of St. Clair and East 61st, a former ethnic enclave.
“My great-grandfather, Ignatius James Slapnik, he came from Ljubljana, Slovenia and he opened up a flower shop,” Shelli reminisced.
The flower shop thrived through the generations. The neighborhood changed but Slapnik remained…until now.
“It’s a sad time,” said an emotional Shelli. ‘The building is sold to St. Martin de Porres High School, the whole block is going down, we’re not sure when, but it’s going to be a gymnasium, from what we’re told, and I’m just happy it’s not going to be an empty block in this neighborhood because it was a wonderful neighborhood to grow up in.”
“We’re so proud of the neighborhood and the people that we’ve known,” Bob echoed.
Part of the fabric of the St. Clair=Superior neighborhood for the last one-hundred-and-six years and one of the last original local businesses in the area leaving has not been easy.
“This florist means a lot to this neighborhood,” continued Shelli. “One of the sentiments that people have sent to me, I’m getting emotional, but thank you all you did for our family during good times and sad times. The Slapnik name is good for the community.”
Shelli filled orders until last weekend, ironically missing a final Mother’s Day, but overwhelmed by her surroundings.
“I see history. I see a lot of memories. I don’t know who else to describe it. This was my life. I was born and raised in the building and it’s sad, but time moves on, you have to move on,” Shelli remembered.
“When people that you knew from long ago keep calling and remember you,” Shelli continued, “that makes you feel you knew you’re going good and have done well so in that respect, to go out that way is pretty good.”
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