The owner of a Boyle Heights flower shop says she closing her doors after nearly seven decades of business.
Karen Bobuta’s parents Hank and Ruth Yoshimizu opened Haru Florist 67 years ago in 1954. She says that between her mother’s death last year, the pandemic, and several recent homicides in the neighborhood lately, she didn’t feel safe any longer.
According to reporting from The Los Angeles Times, there were several murders last year all within blocks of the shop.
Karen and her siblings Kary, Rodney, Sharen, and Dani grew up in the area. According to The Eastsider LA, her parents started their business in a storefront where tofu was being manufactured.
At one point the family lived with Nobuta’s grandfather, who also had a flower shop in Grand Central Market. He was sent to a Japanese concentration camp during World War II and lost his store and his wife, who died in the camp. When a house behind Haru Florist became available, the Yoshimizu family moved in.
“I think people that buy flowers, they’re very sentimental,” Nobuta tells Eastsider LA. “I think that’s why we’re so lucky to have all these wonderful customers. They have a warm heart.”
Haru, which means “spring” in Japanese, will officially close on February 1, and like the seasons, as one thing closes another opens. Nobuta’s daughter recently had a baby, and the soon-to-be-retired flower shop owner is excited to help with her grandchild.