By STEVEN JUPITER
BRANDON—If ever there were an unofficial mayor of Brandon, Bernie Carr would certainly be at the top of the list of candidates. All their adult lives, Bernie and Beth Carr have been pillars of the Brandon community, running their businesses, volunteering, and generally trying to keep the town moving forward.
Now, after 50 years in Brandon retail—flowers and gifts—the Carrs have put their Center Street building on the market as they contemplate their well-earned retirement.
They spoke at length about their lives and businesses in a wide-ranging conversation at their shop—Carr’s Gifts—last weekend.
Local roots
Born in 1958, Bernie grew up on Franklin Street in Brandon. His father was a probation officer and his mother worked at the Ayrshire Breeders Association and at the Brandon Training School.
Beth came to Brandon in the 3rd grade, in 1965, having lived in Portland, Maine; Fort Bening, Georgia; and Arlington, Virginia. Her father, Neil Rideout, was a science teacher who brought the family to Vermont when he got a teaching position at Otter Valley.
And yet, they didn’t meet until they were in their late teens.
“Bernie and I weren’t in the same grade and we didn’t have friends in common,” Beth explained. “Then my parents got divorced and my mother moved us back to Portland for my sophomore, junior, and most of my senior years. I came back in 12th grade to live with my father and graduated from OV.”
Bernie and Beth finally crossed paths in 1975 when they both began working at the IGA supermarket that used to occupy what’s now the liquor store on Conant Square. Beth had just graduated, but Bernie was still at OV. And one of his friends ended up asking Beth to prom while Bernie went with another girl. At some point during the evening, the two couples had the idea to switch partners for a dance.
“I was uncomfortable because it was a slow dance and I thought he was holding me too close,” Beth laughed.
“I was a pretty quiet guy. Not a ladies’ man at all,” Bernie said. “But my father had told me to use my hips to lead a girl while dancing. So I did.”
Though that first dance may have been awkward, a friendship blossomed between them at work and they were soon a couple. Music played a key role in bringing them together.
“There used to be a variety show in town called ‘Otter Nonsense,’” said Beth. “Bernie sang ‘There’s No Business Like Show Business’ and I fell in love watching him. He had such a good voice. I think I started chasing him at that point.”
They started dating in the fall of 1976.
They were married in May of 1978.
Everything’s coming up roses
Mere months after their wedding, Bernie and Beth decided to buy Petty’s Florist, a tiny operation at the top of Seminary Hill.
“We had no experience with flowers,” said Bernie. “We were young and naïve.”
“I thought it sounded like fun,” said Beth.
Bernie had been working at Miller & Ketcham Funeral Home in Brandon, having become a fully licensed apprentice.
“I was just about to start a course in Boston to become a funeral director when we decided to buy the flower shop,” said Bernie.
Instead of directing funerals, he ended up supplying the flowers.
He and Beth put together bouquets for funerals, weddings, birthdays, Mother’s Day, Easter, and, of course, Valentine’s Day.
But it was a struggle at first. The original shop was tiny and located outside the main shopping district. In 1981, taking advice from Bernie’s brother Steve, then a VP at the First National Bank of Brandon, they made the move down the hill to a storefront at 11 Center Street, in a building that was eventually replaced by the Café Provence/Center Street Bar complex. They renamed the business “Carr’s Country Florist.”
It was another tiny space—only 20’ by 20’—but its location in the heart of the village gave their business a major boost.
“The rent was $175 a month and we thought we wouldn’t be able to afford it,” Bernie recalled. “But we quintupled our revenue in the first year.”
“We were in the shop 24/7,” said Beth. “The window was right on the street. Everyone could see when we were in there at night.”
“We used to get guys banging on the door after they’d been drinking at LaDuke’s and wanted to bring a rose home to their wives,” Bernie laughed.
Business blooms
In 1982, feeling the constraints of their limited space, the Carrs moved their business to the building they now occupy at 21 Center Street. At the time, the building was divided into two adjacent storefronts: an insurance agency owned by Skip Davis (who also owned the building) and a gift shop owned by Buddy Wetmore.
“Buddy was a great guy,” Bernie said. “He was a good person to model myself after. He gave us a glass shamrock that we had in the window for the longest time. I don’t know what happened to that.”
“I’m sure we’ll find it when we clean out the store,” joked Beth.
In 1987, the Carrs bought the entire building from Davis. It included the two storefronts and a space that then housed Yankee Kitchen and is now Delilah’s Hair Studio.
Buddy Wetmore eventually sold his gift shop and it passed through a series of other owners until ultimately closing in 1994. Instead of looking for a new tenant for that space, the Carrs decided to expand their shop.
They took down the wall separating the two storefronts and added a gift shop to their operations.
“We needed something else to bring in revenue between holidays,” said Bernie. The flower business reliably spikes on Valentine’s and Mother’s Days but can be unpredictable the rest of the year.
“We were open the whole time,” he added. “We couldn’t afford to close, even when the place was under construction. We had no other income. We both worked at the shop.”
They kept the florist and gift shop running simultaneously until 2018, when they sold off the flower shop and focused their energies on the gifts. The flower shop was purchased by Annie Chartrand and still operates as the Brandon Florist Shoppe on Grove Street.
“Running a flower shop is harder than running a gift shop,” said Bernie. Flowers are fragile and perishable. Inventory that sits around too long can’t be discounted; it literally dies.
The Segment 6 construction project began in the spring of 2017 and turned Center Street into a construction zone for a few years, triggering fears among some that Brandon’s retail community would wither and never recover.
“We’d been talking about that project since 1982,” said Bernie. “I supported it even though I knew it would affect my bottom line. It was good for the town.”
And just when the dust had finally settled on Segment 6, COVID dealt local retail another blow.
Brandon bounced back, adding new ventures like Red Clover Ale Company and the River Pub & Grill, making the town an attractive destination for tourists, who make up the bulk of the Carrs’ customer base.
“People just driving through don’t buy flowers but they do buy gifts,” said Bernie. He added that the flower business had gotten more and more competitive as places like Home Depot and Hannaford started carrying cheap, lower-quality flowers and plants.
For years, the Carrs also had a friendly rivalry with Brown’s of Brandon, an established gift shop where the National Bank of Middlebury now is (see the article in this week’s issue on that historic building). When proprietor Tom Brown retired in 2007, he encouraged the Carrs to pick up some of the exclusive contracts he’d had with desirable giftware companies.
“Beth has always done all the buying for the store. I’ve just got my spinner balloons,” Bernie laughed, referring to the colorful array of colorful spinning balloons that hang from the store’s awning and can be seen on front porches all over town.
Pruning back
After 50 years in retail, the Carrs are ready to slow down and focus on themselves and their family.
“We’ve missed so many family events working every weekend. We’ve only taken 4 real vacations in the last 40 years,” Bernie said. Even attending their daughter Caitlin’s college graduation was difficult because it coincided with Mother’s Day, one of the most important days of the year for florists.
So, in February, they listed their building for sale.
For years, Bernie has also had a side hustle of sorts as the Executive Director of the Brandon Area Chamber of Commerce, which allowed him to capitalize on his extensive network of local relationships and provided the Carrs with an additional income stream. He’ll remain in that position even after the shop closes.
“We’ve been so lucky,” he said. “We’ve had so many people helping us over the years. Probably millions of dollars in volunteer labor just to help us keep these businesses going.”
“We couldn’t have done it without our friends and family,” said Beth.
“We’ve also had some amazing employees, like Terrie [Patch], who has been the best store manager you can imagine for the last 22 years,” added Bernie.
Even after Hurricane Irene in 2011, friends and family showed up the very next day to help the Carrs clean up the mess in their flooded store.
Despite the demands of their businesses, the Carrs have always made time to get involved with local organizations and clubs. Beth has worked with the library, Nifty Thrifty, and taught confirmation classes. Bernie sings every Christmas with the Brandon Festival Singers.
“This community matters a lot to us,” Beth said, her voice tightening with emotion.
“This town has done a lot for us,” added Bernie.
And through the years, all the ups and downs of business, the stresses of raising a child, they’ve relied on each other.
“There used to be a store we liked in Rutland where the owners were a married couple that were always yelling at each other,” said Bernie.
“We used to call them the Bickersons,” laughed Beth.
“We didn’t ever want to be that couple,” said Bernie. “Whatever we were going through at home, we put it aside when we came to the store. We had to work things out because we had to work together. It helped us maintain a good, solid marriage.”
Closing the shop will mean big changes for the Carrs but also for those Brandonites who are used to seeing them downtown, popping in for a visit at their shop.
“People still come in and tell us we did the flowers for their wedding,” said Beth.
“We were a part of their lives from birth to death,” said Bernie. “All the events…weddings, funerals, Valentine’s Day…we were part of it all. We’re going to miss that.”
