After more than 70 years of bringing flowers to Fort Wayne, the Posey Shoppe Florist and Gifts has succumbed to a weakened economy and changing shopping habits. The store plans to sell and deliver flowers through the end of the year, but its owners are cutting prices to try to move out their remaining inventory during the holidays.

Rhonda Dennon, who has owned Posey Shoppe for 15 years with her sister, Sandy Morrell, said they've been trying to sell the business for a year. The final factor that persuaded them to sell is the coming demolition and construction work at the Scott's store in Village at Coventry, the shopping center where Posey Shoppe is located.

“I think it's going to be total chaos,” Dennon said. “I don't think the public is going to want to be around shopping in this kind of atmosphere.”

Earlier this year, Kroger announced that it plans to tear down the Scott's store there and adjacent commercial buildings and replace them with a 126,000-square-foot superstore. Kroger spokesman John Elliott said Friday no date has been set yet for the beginning of work there. The company expects demolition and construction to last 11 to 13 months, he said.

Whatever the impact of the construction work ahead, the dwindling economic vitality of the area has caused a recent, sharp drop in the shop's sales. Dennon estimates that their sales have dropped 30 percent to 40 percent.

The sisters have cut the numbers of workers they employ and the hours those employees work. They now work with two designers and a delivery driver. That's less than half the help they depended on daily during their best years, shortly after they bought the shop in 1994.

Tighter budgets for consumers seem to dovetail with other trends that squeeze independent florists. Supermarkets with large-scale buying power undersell small florists. More people are choosing to donate money to designated memorials instead of sending flowers to funerals, Dennon said. And the Internet is cutting into local florists' sales, she said.

“People don't take the time to search out the service and quality the small florist has to offer,” she said. “They order it online, and they don't know what they're getting.”