About half of the 13 remaining Johnston the florist and Shackelford's & Maxwell's floral shops in the region would close late this year under a bankruptcy reorganization plan being written by the four brothers who own them.
Two North Huntingdon-based companies -- Guffey Brothers Inc., which operates the shops, and Johnston's Greenhouses Inc., which grows many of the flowers and plants they sell -- filed for protection from creditors during the past few days under Chapter 12 of the bankruptcy code, reserved for family farms.
"We have taken a pretty big hit the last couple of years," said Mark Guffey, the president, who with his brothers David, Steve and Andy plan to close four to seven shops after the holidays, but keep the combined businesses' 150 employees and add new products and services to revive sales.
