Flowers On Chestnut Up For Sale, Seeking Buyer To Continue Flower Shop Tradition

A downtown Nantucket institution - Flowers On Chestnut - hit the market this week and is being listed for $7.5 million.

But owner Michael Molinar, who just celebrated 35 years in business, told the Current he's committed to finding a buyer who will continue running it as a flower shop.

"This town has been good to me and we provide a service to a lot of people from the day they're born to the other end of life," Molinar said. "We’re not just going to close and I’m going to go home and quit. We’re going to find the right person to take over. I want a flower shop downtown and I’m not in any hurry to sell."

Molinar, who turns 65 this week, said he had been talking recently with his attorney about his will, and when the discussion turned to the flower shop, he emphasized that he had no "heir apparent" to take over the business.

"They said if you want that to stay a flower shop, it's going to take some time to find the right person to take over - a year or two or more," Molinar said. "We thought it would be smart to list it now, and if it takes a year or two, that's fine. I won't be 85 and in a wheelchair when it sells."

Flowers on Chestnut was founded in 1984 inside the old Boarding House at 12 Federal Street. It was known then simply as "Flowers" and Molinar got his start at the business working as the delivery boy.

But just two years into the business, the three original owners parted ways. For Molinar, it was an opportunity, and he took over the business as the new owner.

At that time, Flowers was confined to just a small room above the kitchen inside the Boarding House, which at the time was vacant. After a successful year, Flowers took over another section of the building, and brought on Jack Bangs from New York as its lead designer. Bangs remains with the business in that role to this day.

But by the early 1990s, the business had expanded to take over the entire second floor of the building on Federal Street, and was still in need of additional space. By that time, Flowers was also offering home furnishings and accessories.

The business found its new home at 1 Chestnut Street in 1998, when Molinar purchased the downtown property from Tom McGlinn for $1.1 million. "Flowers" became "Flowers on Chestnut," in the 100-year-old building. More than three decades and countless flower arrangements later, the next chapter of the business' story is about to bloom.

"It’s time," Molinar said. "But I'm not going to sell it to anyone who doesn't want to continue it as a flower shop."