Flower shop closes in Fresno’s Tower District after 80+ years. What happened?

Michael Henry Tipton-Butler has never seen flowers as a thing of luxury.

“It’s more of a necessity,” he says.

So, his flower shop was always more than a business.

It was almost like a service to the public good, says Tipton-Butler, who operated Chase Flower Shop for 20 years before it closed down last week.

The business had been struggling for several years. Recent trade tariffs and a lack of U.S.-grown flowers made for difficult finances. Tipton-Butler saw other shops selling $300 bouquets and knew his clients weren’t the sort who could deal with those prices. So, “it wasn’t very profitable,” he says.

Last month, the shop announced a two-day going-out-of-business sale to clear out the contents of the store, which including years of old window displays (something it was famous for), plus furniture and fixtures.

On Wednesday, the spot was mostly empty, save for some odd shelving and a display rack that was visible through the front windows. A sign on the door said “closed.”

Gil Chase’s Flower Shop

News of the closure was met with remembrances from customers who had frequented the store over the years.

“The most beautiful corner flower shop in the whole Fresno area,” read one on-line comment.

“Part of the whimsy and magic of Fresno left us the day they closed,” read another.

“The end of an era.”

That “era” started long before Tipton-Butler, who was the fourth in a line of owners stretching back 80 years.

Gilbert Chase opened the shop at 1446 N. Van Ness in 1947, and had already been 17 years in the business (with three years off to serve in the war). An Oct. 10 advertisement in The Fresno Bee announced the store’s opening: “Tomorrow morning at eight ... Gil Chase, well known Fresno floral designer, will open his new flower shop.”

Readers were “cordially invited” to “see the distinctive and unusual in floral and plant arrangements,” and “flowers for all occasions.”

The store also took orders by telephone: “Merely phone 3-3562 and be assured that your order will receive courteous and prompt attention,” according to the advertisement.

Toward the end of the 1960s, Chase brought on a co-owner, Leland Fritz, and in 1971 the store relocated to what would become its signature storefront at the corner of Van Ness and Floradora avenues. The move doubled the floor space and added three times as much refrigeration, according to a Fresno Bee story at the time.

What’s next for Tower fixture?

Under Tipton-Butler’s ownership, the flower was known for its prices, service and creativity, especially in its elaborate window displays, which would change seasonally, at least.

The shop, with its large floral-patterned murals, was a visible piece of the Tower District community.

As was its owner.

Among Tipton-Butler’s cherished memories of the shop is passing out free carnations at neighborhood events like the Taste and Toast of the Tower and the Mardi Gras Parade. And while Tipton-Butler will no longer be at the store, he’ll still be a part of the Tower community, he says. “We’ll see you around at the parades and festivals and such.”

As to what happens with the storefront now, Tipton-Butler doesn’t own the building, so he can’t say if there are plans for future business to take over. But there has been interest, he says, including from a nearby print shop.