Content area
Full Text
Lucile Belen and her family have been a fixture in the flower business as well as in local politics for decades. Well past the age when most people are thinking about retirement, Belen is still going strong.
Under the name of Michigan Floral Company, the family's first venture into the flower business didn't fare very well. A friend recommended changing the company's name, because the family was so well known in the area. When they tried again in 1936 under the name of Belen's Flowers, the business took off.
The store was opened in a room with a side door in the family home at the comer of Kalamazoo and Sycamore. It started out as a shoestring operation, Belen recalled. "My mother was home, running the business, and I was working for the State. My dad (Christopher) continued in the wholesale meat business. We all would help at night, or during the noon hour. In the meantime, my mother (Elizabeth) got elected to the Legislature, so I quit my job and came home and started working in the business."
The work was split up in a logical fashion, something Belen credits for avoiding the squabbles that sometimes disrupt a family business. "I took care of designing. My mother took care of advertising, my dad took care of supervising delivery, and my sister (Virginia) took care of banking and the finances. We never had much conflict like a lot of families do that are in business."
After expanding into an adjacent...