PINK HILL — Heritage House Florist has moved to a new location and is having an open house from 2-5 p.m. Sunday.
A florist for 26 years, Dennis Howard originally opened the business in 1987 at 706 Wallace St. in what is now a beauty shop in Kinston.
Howard, a Pink Hill native, graduated from South Lenoir High School in 1977 and spent about four years traveling with The Singing Samaritans playing piano and singing. The group from Wallace included gospel singer Michael English and family.
Howard moved to Kinston and worked for the former Green Leaf Florist for a couple of years.
“I kind of grew up around a lot of flowers with my grandmother,” he said. “I guess she inspired me to do something about it.”
While in business on Wallace Street in 1994, the son of Morris and the late Arlene King Howard bought the Kleber Denmark Florist building where a floral shop had been in business on Queen Street for about 60 years.
In 2008, Howard moved to Pink Hill to care for his father. He moved the business to The Colony House, a floral shop owned by Pauline King, who had retired.
“We were coming back to Pink Hill and we utilized (the building) until about a month ago,” he said.
That’s when he moved to The Strawberry Patch, a roadside country store known for its “you pick/we pick” strawberries and other produce.
Deb Smith operated a gift shop during strawberry season, but Howard was approached about moving his shop into the 3,000 square feet of space year-round.
Howard opened his new store Nov. 1 with holiday gifts, ornaments and elves; shrubbery; bedding plants; yard art and statuaries; wines from Lu Mil Vineyards in Elizabethtown; non-alcoholic wines and cider; and fresh floral arrangements.
They also carry local honey and jams and in the warmer months, homemade ice-cream made on the premises, Howard said.
Heritage House Florist, 125 Maxwell’s Mill Road, Pink Hill, is open from 9 a.m.- 5 p.m. Monday through Friday and 9 a.m.- 4 p.m. on Saturdays. For information, call 252-568-3364.
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Mike Horne continues to divide and conquer.
The owner of Horne’s Hardware and Outdoor Power Equipment in Pink Hill has sold the hardware side to Jeremy Whitfield, expanded the power equipment business and will be moving in January.
The hardware store will continue with the same name, Horne said.
It’s not the first time Horne divided his business and sold half.
A Pink Hill native, he attended South Lenoir High School, but graduated from a school in Florida. When he returned home, he worked for Johnny Sheppard Equipment Company for three years, selling retail and parts. In 1986, he worked as a mechanic for Western Auto, becoming a service manager.
Three years later, he opened an automotive and power equipment shop at 105 Kinston Blvd.
“They both grew tremendously,” he said about the two businesses.
In 1999, he sold the automotive side to Shane Tyndall. That was his first dividing of two businesses.
After adding on to the building a number of times, he sold the entire building in 2004 to Tyndall, who added tire sales and needed more room.
Two doors down at 103 Kinston Blvd., Horne continued with the outdoor power equipment business. In 2004, he added a hardware store, run by Whitfield.
In January, he split the company again. His power equipment sales and services was a success.
“We do a million dollars a year just in power equipment,” he said.
Located at a former hardware store and Ford dealership, Horne has 12,000 square feet of space, with 7,000 square feet of it for the power equipment. The rest is Whitfield’s hardware store.
The full-service shop with five employees sells name brand commercial equipment, such as chain saws, lawn mowers, trimmers and other outdoor equipment. All repairs are warranted for 30 days.
“We’re into the high end equipment,” Horne said.
But the store has outgrown its space. So for a third time, Horne is moving to a 14,000-square-foot warehouse across from the IGA store.
“The place is big enough for the equipment to be inside,” he said.
They plan to be open for business the first week in January with a 3,000-square-foot showroom and parts department, as well as customer storage and a service center.
Whitfield will continue to lease the current building and operate the hardware store.
Horne’s Hardware and Outdoor Power Equipment, 202 Clay St., is open 8 a.m.- 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, and in the warm months starting March 1, from 8 a.m.- noon on Saturdays. For information, call 252-568-4213.
Margaret Fisher can be reached at 252-559-1082 or Margaret.Fisher@Kinston.com. Follow her on Twitter @MargaretFishr.
Do you have a new retail business or one that’s undergone a significant change? The Free Press would like to hear about it. Contact Margaret Fisher at 252-559-1082 or Margaret.Fisher@Kinston.com.