Last florist in town goes out of business

WINSTED — Christine’s Flower Shoppe LLC has gone out of business, leaving the town without a florist for the first time in many years.Christine Skutt owned and operated the business for 17 years out of 920 Main St., which is a building owned by the Cannavo family.Last year, Skutt sold the business and became the manager of the floral department at Stop & Shop in North Canaan.“I wanted to move on and do something different business-wise,” she said.However, Skutt said she came to regret the decision.“The new owner of the business started out with no debt, but later became overwhelmed,” Skutt said. “She rarely showed up to work. The new owner wasn’t really interested in doing anything to run the business. I don’t know what [the owner] was thinking, but she was rarely there. At one point she got behind on paying bills, so I had to go in and shut her down.”Skutt would not reveal who the owner was of the business.The store shut down in April, which Skutt said is very sad.“I would like to thank all of my customers for their loyalty over the years,” Skutt said. “It’s a sad and terrible end to a great business.”

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