A downtown business that has touched nearly every Butler area resident’s life in some way will close at the end of July.

Bortmas, The Butler Florist, which has provided flowers for weddings, funerals, Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, hospital and sick rooms, Christmas, proms and myriad other occasions since being purchased for $600 by Charles Bortmas in 1927, will lock up its East Wayne Street shop on July 31.

Owner Ed Bloom, 62, bought the downtown business from Lee Bortmas in 1979 at age 19, when he was a pre-med student at Allegheny College.

The aptly named Bloom had worked in various capacities for Bortmas since 1972, when he was a seventh-grade student at Butler Junior High School.

Bloom, who possesses an innate talent for design, made Polly Bortmas, Lee’s daughter, a sand-art centerpiece as a Christmas gift one year, and Lee asked his young employee to make more for display and sale at the florist shop.

“I made 200 of those over the next couple years,” Bloom recalled.

He worked at the florist shop on Monday evenings and Saturdays beginning in ninth grade, and worked there every summer during high school.

Bloom attended Allegheny College for one year as a chemistry major with the intention of becoming a doctor, but Lee Bortmas began inviting him to ride along on flower deliveries.

During these excursions, Bortmas told Bloom he had a good head for business and a natural eye for design.

“The third time he said something like that, I said ‘Do you want to sell me your shop or what?’” Bloom said.

His parents, the late Beryl and Arno Bloom, agreed to mortgage the family’s Connoquenessing Township home to finance the purchase.

“On Jan. 1, 1980, I took over,” Bloom said. “I was the employee one day and the youngest person there, and the next day, the owner.”

He recalled Bortmas’ loyal employees offering to skip paychecks to help Bloom out.

“We never had to do that,” Bloom said.

He said his caring and supportive parents didn’t pressure him to finish college and knew the shop was a stable business in which their son excelled.

“They were just always behind what we wanted to do,” Bloom said. “They were just awesome parents.”

Memorial plaques, purchased by the shop’s employees, hang on a wall among the store’s flowers and decorations to commemorate Beryl and Arno’s dedication to the business.

Then a young man with the experience of most 20-year-olds, Bloom felt his parents’ sacrifice hit him on his first Valentine’s Day as owner.

“I thought if I screw this up, my parents could lose their house,” Bloom recalled. “The first year was a big learning curve, but it all worked out.”

Bloom said one aspect of the floral industry that many don’t consider is the “short notice” facet that requires the shop to be prepared for any order or wish at any given time.

Bloom said it is difficult to have every flower ready for use in every application a customer may want.

For example, ordering funeral lilies must be timed so they will be open when they arrive at a funeral home, and roses are soaked in a longevity solution to make them last as long as possible before being used in arrangements or placed in vases or bouquets.

“There are an awful lot of things that go into making everything work,” Bloom said. “There are a lot of different treatments for different products if you want them to hold up and last well, and I’m kind of a stickler about that.”

But the reward comes when a grieving family member or happy bride communicates their appreciation for the floral products that marked a day they never will forget.

“For a funeral, you really want to honor that person who passed, or you want the bride to be thrilled with what you did,” Bloom said.

Not all of Bloom’s career at The Butler Florist has come up roses.

On June 13, 1988, he got a call in the middle of the night from firefighters in Butler that the downtown building he leased and its contents were on fire.

Bloom said he could bring the keys to his delivery trucks so firefighters could save them.

“They said all the trucks had already exploded,” he said. “As I drove in from my home on Route 8 South, I could see the smoke, so I knew it was really bad.”

With the help of his father, who was a local builder, the florist reopened in a temporary storefront on Main Street on July 1, less than a month later.

“I got two used coolers in Pittsburgh and got them up and running,” Bloom said. “It was rough, because every time you turned around, there was something you didn’t have.”

Eventually, Bloom saw the 7,000-square-foot building on East Wayne Street for sale, so he and his father made an appointment to take a look.

“It was a great shell,” Bloom said. “The interior needed everything.”

When his offer was accepted by the seller, he hired an architect to draw up plans for the refurbished interior.

The East Wayne Street store opened on Feb. 17, 1989.

“The best thing that came out of the fire is that I got to own my own building, but I don’t recommend getting one that way,” Bloom said.

Bloom said he has made a lot of dear friends and worked with many dedicated people at his shop, where he always tried to provide customers with the very best product possible.

“I have mixed emotions about closing,” he said. “It’s not how I’d hoped to go out. I always envisioned selling.”

He said after he announced his retirement on his personal social media page, he did receive a message or two that could possibly result in the business remaining open, but he plans to close the doors as of now.

Bloom has dedicated the last 42 years of his life to the florist business, usually spending 75 to 80 hours per week there. He was accompanied during many of those hours by his West Highland white terriers, Mimzie and Bentley.

“I’m just to the point where I feel it’s time,“ he said.

Bloom plans to pursue his hobby of traveling once the shop is closed.

He put off a Danube river cruise three times, but will finally sail that European waterway in August.

“It’s hard to get out of here for 15 or 16 days to go somewhere,” he said.

Bloom also plans to check off visiting the Biltmore mansion during Christmas from his bucket list.

“I’m doing that this year,” he said.

Cyndy Sweeney of Franklin Township called Bloom wonderful, kind and generous.

“I’m absolutely devastated,” Sweeney said of the store closing. “He has been through my husband’s death, parties I’ve had, special events ... it’s tragic.”

As a board director at the Maridon Museum, Sweeney always contacted Bloom when planning staff luncheons.

“He just makes these unique little favor arrangements for the tables,” she said. “He’s so creative.”

She recalled telling Bloom she needed flowers for her son’s Holy Communion, which fell on Mother’s Day, one of the shop’s busiest days.

“He said ‘Come to the shop early Sunday morning, and we’ll have them for you,’” Sweeney said. “He goes the distance and makes things wonderful.”

Although sad, Sweeney wishes her friend all the best in his retirement.

“I’m happy for him, and he deserves it,” she said. “But my sons are a little upset too.”

Cindy Savage, of Butler Township, has been a Bortmas customer for 42 years.

Bloom decorated Savage’s home for Christmas every year.

“Everything he did for me was breathtaking,” she said.

Because Bloom regularly went above and beyond the call of duty for Savage’s floral and decorating needs, she, her husband and son attended Beryl Bloom’s viewing a few months ago.

“We went to the funeral home to be with Ed for a while,” she said. “He’s a dear friend.”

While she said she will be lost without Bloom’s creative influence in her life, she understands his need to retire.

“Everyone needs to step back and enjoy their life,” Savage said.

“He’s extremely creative and a true gentleman in every way,” she said. “I sent him a text saying ‘I’m happy for you, but I’m devastated.’”

She said the entire city of Butler and beyond will be at a loss without Bortmas, The Butler Florist.

“It’s going to be a shock for the city of Butler,” Savage said. “It’s a landmark that will no longer be there.”

Butler Mayor Bob Dandoy talked Tuesday about Bloom’s retirement and the shop’s closing.

Dandoy knows the Bortmas family and Bloom as well.

“They contributed to everything in our lives,” Dandoy said. “Weddings, funerals, births, birthdays ... it’s just going to be a big hole in our community.”

The Bortmas family and Bloom contributed more to Butler than they will ever understand, Dandoy said.

“Ed and his crew do such a beautiful job,” he said. “They are going to be missed, absolutely.”

Terry Kaiserman, of Penn Township, sends flowers to his wife on a weekly basis and has been a Bortmas customer for more than a decade.

“Ed has been incredible,” Kaiserman said. “This is a very sad time for a lot of people.”

He called Bloom “a good soul,” which was evidenced by the beautiful centerpieces and arrangements he provided at the county Humane Society’s annual Furball fundraiser.

“And he’s come to my rescue a number of times,” Kaiserman said. “Ed is a truly good human being.”

Bloom said he will liquidate his stock sometime in August, when he will hold sales over the weekends.

He also plans to hold a sale in November to deplete his holiday inventory. The dates of the sales will appear on the Bortmas Facebook page as soon as they are planned.

The last day of regular business at the sweet-smelling shop will be on July 31, unless something changes.

“I just really want to thank Butler,” Bloom said. “People have supported me so much over the years. We have a great customer base, and it’s a great community.”