Diamond's Flowers: a Coventry fixture since 1934

Roseana Bass, owner of Diamond's Flowers.

As its second-oldest store, Diamond’s Flowers is a fixture on Coventry Road. Located at 1840 Coventry, it has been in the same location since 1934—longer than any store on the street.

Joe and Mary Diamond owned Diamond’s until 1969, when they sold it to Max Feris and his wife, Thelma Woods. The current owner is Roseana Bass, who lives in Richmond Heights.

While attending Regina High School in South Euclid, her guidance counselor suggested that she become a florist. “I said, ‘Are you out of your mind?’” Bass recalled. After high school, Bass attended Cleveland State University, and then started working at Diamond’s in 1985.

Much to her surprise, Bass enjoyed working as a florist. After a broken hip forced Feris to retire, Bass purchased the store and has operated it ever since with help from her husband, Jim.

The store's specialty is preparing wedding and funeral arrangements, among other services. “We are now in a situation where a couple of decades ago we did someone’s wedding, and now we are doing their children’s weddings,” Bass said. “We have many regular customers who have been coming here for more than 30 years and now their children are also customers.”

Bass said that weekends tend to be busy, with people going out on dates and celebrating. Valentine’s Day is a busy holiday. “The line goes out the door around Valentine’s Day,” Bass said. She also gets a lot of business from Case Western Reserve University students, especially for fraternity and sorority parties.

Bass buys all of her flowers in Cleveland. She makes daily trips to Allied Florist, a wholesale florist on Carnegie Avenue. “I go downtown every day and pick up flowers,” she said. “Then I bring them back here to Coventry.”

When Bass bought the store, it took up two storefronts on Coventry. She downsized to one storefront in 1995, but it still retains much of its original look, including the original flower storage coolers. After many decades of operation, the business is still going strong. “I have seen lots of changes on Coventry, but I still love it here,” said Bass.

James Henke

James Henke, a Cleveland Heights resident, was a writer and editor at Rolling Stone magazine for 15 years. He is also the author of several books, including biographies of Jim Morrison, John Lennon and Bob Marley.

Read More on Business
Volume 6, Issue 10, Posted 6:59 PM, 10.01.2013