LINCOLN, Maine — Heather Austin will reopen the flower shop she lost when it burned down Jan. 16 at a new location. That’s the good news.
The bad news? The new Creative Blooms & More is set to open at 57 Fleming St. on Feb. 15, exactly one day after Valentine’s Day, which is the single busiest sales day of the year for flower shops, Austin said.
“There is simply too much going on,” Austin said Tuesday. “I won’t have enough time to get the shop ready to open and handle all of the special orders and things you have to do on Valentine’s Day.”
Austin hopes, however, she won’t be missing as much of a Valentine’s Day this year as she would most years because it falls on a Sunday this year.
“The biggest thing men do is to show off how wonderful they are in sending somebody a dozen roses to work,” Austin said. “Nobody works on a Sunday, so the glory for getting roses to deliver to the workplace is gone on Saturday and Sunday.”
The cause of the fire that destroyed her shop at 222 West Broadway will be logged as undetermined, according to Sgt. Scott Richardson of the state fire marshal’s office.
However, investigators suspect the fire was caused by an electrical problem. They were able to rule out everything except electrical problems as the cause, and the fire did start near the electrical utilities box on the West Broadway side of the building, Richardson said.
The fire destroyed the shop, but firefighters stopped it short of destroying the adjoining Shooters pool hall. However, Shooters owner David Guthrie has said he believes the building is unsalvageable because of water and weather damage. Guthrie has said he plans to rebuild.
The flower shop fire was the second in Lincoln in January. The other fire, at LMJ Enterprises on Jan. 29, damaged a wood-shavings mill and was caused by an electrical problem, Richardson said.
Austin’s new shop was formerly the home of Earth Bounty, a natural foods store that building and business owner Betsy Gilbert closed in October after 16 years because of competition from the Internet and other businesses, Gilbert said.
The health foods store previously was home to another flower shop called Irene’s Flower Shop, Gilbert said. Gilbert and Austin said they hope to close on their lease deal within several days.
Austin said she is grateful for the more than $700 in donations she has received since the fire destroyed her store, which was not insured for its contents. Her daughter has organized another fundraiser, a dinner at Northern Penobscot Tech-Region III from 4:30 to 7 p.m. Friday, Feb. 5. Anyone interested should visit the Benefit Dinner For Creative Blooms Facebook page to indicate whether they will be attending.