Bay City Flower Company to close after 110 years

“After four generations and 110 glorious years in floriculture, we at Bay City Flowers Company have decided that the time has come for us to wind down the selling of our flowers,” Harrison Higaki said, per the release. 

The company was founded in Redwood City in 1910 by Nobuo Higaki, a Japanese immigrant who grew cut carnations, roses, chrysanthemums and gardenias in San Francisco, according to the company’s website. Bay City moved to Half Moon Bay in 1959, per the company's website. 

In the release, Higaki cited several reasons for the closure, with the main reason being it becoming "increasingly difficult to run a flower farm and compete nationally while operating in the costliest place in the nation.” Higaki also started that he is considering "alternative uses" for its facilities. According to the company, Bay City has about 2.5 million square feet of greenhouse space. 

Bay City, according to an article in the The Daily Journal, has already started laying off employees and will leave around 200 workers out of a job.