Neill’s Flowers & Gifts will mark 100th year

Mitch Chandler, owner of Neill’s Flowers & Gifts in Pullman, plans to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the store by serving ice cream sundaes to all who visit the store Oct. 22, from 9 to 5 and Oct. 23, 9 to 3 p.m. The free sundaes go back to the days when the shop was a soda fountain and candy store.

“During our celebration we will bring out menus, photos and other items that many of our longtime customers will remember,” Chandler said. “We will add to our display the shop’s original candy scale, typewriter and many other items.”

Greg Neill of Pullman, who sold the store to the Chandlers 32 years ago, will take part in the festivities. Now 90, Neill continues to live in Pullman.

Roy Neill started the business in 1910 as Cougar View Greenhouses on Military Hill. He made daily deliveries to Dutton’s Confectionery on Main Street where people could buy fresh flowers from a stand.

In 1920, he bought the present store, which was a different confectionery, and from 1920 to 1940 it was a combination soda fountain, grill and flower shop. That made it a popular hangout for Washington State College students.

The store was remodeled in 1940, the fountain and grill closed and the name changed to Neill’s Flowers and Gifts.

Roy’s son and daughter-in-law, Greg and Tillie Neill, joined the business in 1945 after serving in World War II and took it over in 1957 when Roy retired.

In 1978, Greg and Tillie sold the shop to Chandler and his wife, Mary Jo, who moved to Pullman from Boise.

Chandler started the shop’s annual Christmas open house, which has become a Pullman tradition. Usually on a Sunday in November, hundreds of area families stop by to pick out holiday gifts, enjoy Mary Jo’s hors d’oeuvres and visit with three generations of the Chandler family.