Has Victor the Florist Closed for Good?

Have you heard anything about what’s happening with Victor the Florist? It’s a Santa Barbara landmark—it has been here forever. —J.

A sign on the door of the iconic flower shop at the corner of Santa Barbara and Anapamu says it’s “closed due to the Covid-19 order.” The sign presumably dates from March 2020, when a similar message on Facebook—the last one from the company—was posted. More ominously, the website is gone (with the domain for sale) and the phone line is disconnected.

“We were forced to close due to Covid and have lost our staff,” owner RaeAnne Alvarado, the great-granddaughter of founder Victor Sourmany. “Also, many of our employees have high-risk family members and can’t return to work. It is very unfortunate but at this time it doesn’t look like we’d be able to reopen.”

It would certainly be the end of an era: the shop has been operating at that spot, under the family’s ownership, since the 1930s.

Got a question? Email [email protected] or text 917-209-6473.

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••• Are people really allowed to set fires in the middle of Montecito?
••• What’s the story with the half-finished lot next to the Montecito Country Mart? 

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