Sacramento’s Balshor Florist is a 70-year love story led by a still-growing matriarch
She didn’t ease out of her seat on this special day, surrounded by all the trappings of a good time: friends, family, balloons and cake.
Marie Balshor practically ejected from her chair, arms open, the outline of her smile clear even with the pandemic mask over her face. Her eyes were active and happy. So was the rest of her.
One quickly learns not to expect just a hello from the matriarch of Balshor Florist, a staple in Sacramento since 1950. Expect an abundance of hugs, sometimes a song, and maybe even a booty bonus to punctuate the full Marie Balshor experience.
”Hello young man!” Mama B tells a visitor who stopped by on the shop’s 70th anniversary earlier this month. “Do you want a fist bump hello or a booty bump? Hey, at my age, I can still shake it!”
Balshor bounds and beams in her golden years. Arthritis doesn’t slow her down. She has good hearing and can banter and recall moments and dates. She defines charm and defies aging.
”I’m not just 92, I’m 92 and a half!” she said, laughing.
“That’s Mom, our family, our legacy, and she’s one of a kind,” said one of Balshor’s sons, Jerry Balshor.
On this day, Balshor was flanked by children Judie and Al Jr., both of whom help run the place on Riverside Boulevard. This has been a second home, the charming old shop with outside orange trim, nostalgic signage and the labor of love and hard work inside. There are cinder block walls in the office, a cash register that is older than the shop itself, and the listening chair.
That would be the creaky old seat in her office, where many a heart-to-heart has played out. Marie Balshor is everyone’s friend, a soft shoulder to lean on, an ear to bend, a hand to hold. A florist shop captures life. People have stopped by this one since Harry S. Truman was in the White House, and 12 presidents since.
Flowers fit every occasion: celebrations, reunions, graduations, weddings, holidays, birthdays, anniversaries, get wells and apologies. And for the most difficult occasions of them all — funerals.
How does one sustain 70 years of business? Especially in an era when flowers can be ordered online by any number of outlets, and during a coronavirus pandemic that has hammered the small shops across the country? Reputation, legacy and more.
”Service, service, service!” Balshor added. “Be nice to people. Listen to them. Help them and care. We listen to our customers because we care about them.”
Too young to retire — ‘People are my life’
Balshor isn’t ready to retire. She’d grow bored. This is who and what she is.
She still drives. She stops by work three days a week to write checks, to check the inventory, to admire the bouquets. Mostly, she stops by to see the people, to stay connected.
”People are my life,” Balshor said. “I tell people to smile at five people or more every day, and they’ll smile, and we’ll all be happier. I have these wrinkles on my face because of smiling. I am so blessed. I have all I need right here.”
On this day, Balshor handed out carnations, insisted people nibble on the cake. She held court as a storyteller when she wasn’t breaking out a spirited rendition of “Hello Dolly’‘ — “It’s so nice to be home where I belong...”
Two visitors have been friends for more than 50 years, one-time Balshor Florist employees who became like family, Louisa Correa and Rosemary Wood.
“Such great people here, and what a milestone — 70 years,” Correa said, recalling how Balshor “was fussing with my wedding train when I got married in 1964.”
Said Wood, “Marie is an inspiration, a joy. We all love her.”
Later, Sacramento City Councilman Steve Hansen stopped by. He hugged Balshor and presented her with a medallion of appreciation from the city of Sacramento.
“Marie’s the heart of what makes this area so great, the best of Sacramento and the best of people,” Hansen said. “You come in here and just feel better about yourself. She makes my day when she calls just to talk. She’s a treasure, an institution, and we’re so glad to have her and this shop.”
A living love story
The Balshor story is a mom-and-pop one. Balshor and husband Al were children of Portuguese immigrants who sought out the American dream and seized it.
Balshor is a widow. She reminds that she holds her husband of 67 years close to her heart.
“We’re still a love story,” she said.
Al Balshor died in 2015 at 90. He was a kindly fellow known for his artistry and his support of Sacramento’s Southside community. He was known as “Mr. Southside.”
His bride can detail his life, right from the start.
”Al was born in 1924, in our old house on U Street, facing south,” Balshor said with a laugh. “True story.”
The Balshors were raised by widowed mothers. They met when she was 6 and he was 9 on a farm in Dixon, in a barn of all places.
“One day, I’m cleaning the barn, and in comes Al,” Balshor said. “I already didn’t like him. I threw water all over him. He threw water at me. Told my mother I won’t talk to him again.”
At 18, she succumbed to Al’s charm.
”He asked me to dance, and what a smooth dancer!” Balshor said. “Oh, my God! He kissed me on the left cheek. I melted from there. That was it.”
After graduating from Sacramento High School, Al Balshor was drafted and served under George Patton’s 3rd Army. He drove an ambulance through Europe, including the Battle of the Bulge, the last German offensive of World War II, much of it in the ice and cold. He saw unthinkable things.
Al Balshor admired Patton so much that he had a small statue of him placed in Balshor Florist. It rests outside the office next to other World War II items.
‘Al, help me. You have a direct line to God up there’
The Balshor’s married on Jan. 1, 1948. For the rest of his life, Al Balshor made sure to kiss his bride three times in the morning before he went to work and three times when he came home. At his funeral service in 2015, cars drove by, honking three times.
On Veterans Day, Balshor laid flowers on her husband’s grave, and she spoke to him.
”I miss him, and I love him,” Balshor said. “Sometimes, if I have a problem, like this pandemic, I’ll say, ‘Al, help me. You have a direct line to God up there. Talk to him for me.’”
She added, “The ladies were enamored by Al because he was so nice to people. Old ladies would come in just for hugs.”
Balshor Florist was born on a dream. Al Bashor, as part of the GI Bill, worked at Relles Florist in Sacramento after the Army. He was intrigued by the business, then hooked.
”Al comes home one day, in 1950, and says, ‘Honey! We’re going to open a flower shop! Hop in the car and let’s look around,’” Balshor said. “Al was born a wise man. We went to San Francisco to buy our first supplies, $90 worth, and we thought that was so much money. It was our start.”
She added, “One day, years ago, Al brought home a note from a customer. It was a wonderful note, so appreciative. I asked, ‘Al, why do people like us so much?’ He said it’s because we’re just simple, ordinary folk. We listen, we care, we hug. We still do. We’re as good as our name. I hope ours is a good one.”
Tell us more
Know of a mom-and-pop operation navigating through these challenging times? A restaurant, a hardware store, a book store, a bar? Email your idea to jpatrick@sacbee.com and jdavidson@sacbee.com.
This story was originally published November 12, 2020 at 5:47 AM.