They’ve been a business institution in Wayne since 1922 and now Cowan’s Flowers, after a 101-year run, is closed, writes Ariana Perez-Castells for The Philadelphia Inquirer.

“We often call the Cowan brothers the mayors of Wayne,” said Alana Milazzo, who owns Tredici Italian Market with her husband, a few doors down on Lancaster Avenue.

They’ve provided flowers for life’s important moments, from school dances to funerals, Milazzo said.

The shop closed for good on June 30.

“We’re getting old,” said Michael J. Cowan, who has owned the business with brother Charles M. Cowan II since 1974.

“I’ve met people whose families have been customers of theirs for generations,” said Susan Huck, a member of the altar guild at St. Mary’s Episcopal Church across the street.

For 50 years, the flower shop offered altar flowers for St. Mary’s at a discount and donated a gift certificate for the church’s annual Christmas bazaar, Huck added.

Cowan’s was a 1986 participant in the Philadelphia Flower Show.

It joins other long-time small businesses on Lancaster Avenue that have shut their doors, including Angelo D’Amicantonio & Son, a shoe store that closed in 2021 after 90 years; and Pat’s Barber Shop.

Read more about the closing of this 101-year-old flower shop in Wayne in The Philadelphia Inquirer.