Rachel Rodriguez , looks around her business, and sentiments area at the sight of her friends ‘ photographs on the surfaces. They’re a warning of a lineage that dates back more than 200 years.
Her company, Constantine’s Wood Center, quickly did shut in , Oakland Park.
It’ll close a chapter in the family business ‘ long-running history, which was characterized by mastering cabinetwork and providing a” craftsman’s headquarters for fine woods.”
The history, tracing to , New York , in the first 1800s, endured with the , Oakland Park , business, at , 1040 E. Oakland Park Blvd. The business lasted as a secure area for about 50 years in , Broward, but finally business waned.
” It’s hard”, Rodriguez says at work on a new Friday, wiping a tear. ” It’s your life”.
Rachel’s husband and business partner, Rodolfo” Rudy” Rodriguez, says the challenges simply grew in recent years, especially during the crisis. ” For two years it’s been rough”, he said. However, we made every effort to keep it.
Today, the company’s sign also states,” Constantine’s Wood Center, Serving Satisfied Craftsmen For Over Two Centuries”. But then a big banner looms over it, announcing in all capital,” Store Closing. Everything Must Go
Establishing a corporation
The , Oakland Park , keep sign gives a smile to the bank’s much past, noting its second generation was established in the early 1800s.
A leader was  , Thomas Constantine, whose home immigrated from , England , to , New York City  , when he was a baby, and then he, as a young child, went on to become a cabinetmaker, according to a , memoir about him , featured on the , U. S.  , Senate’s site.
” Between 1806 and 1812, Constantine apprenticed with , New York City  , cabinetmaker , John Hewitt, and next served as a rookie in the same factory between 1812 and 1814″, the memoir says. ” Thomas opened his own case factory in 1815, and in 1817 his strong,  , T. Constantine &, Co., began competing with some of the city’s most significant equipment companies”.
His pieces of furniture were a part of the American recovery from the War of 1812.
On , Aug. 24, 1814, during the War of 1812, American soldiers burned the , Capitol , and almost all other public buildings in , Washington, including the , Senate , tower. America called on Constantine:” In 1818, the , U. S.  , state hired him to offer amenities for the Senate”, reads an article , in The , New Yorker.
He received a commitment to “provide the House of , Representatives Chamber , with rugs, wall hangings, light, 192 chair, and 51 furniture”, according to the , Senate , site.
” The next year, Constantine was awarded a commitment to provide the Senate Chamber with 48 mahogany chairs and tables, as well as other furniture, lighting, and fabric”.
Constantine’s nephew, John, is known to possess assisted with the fabric of the chair made for both chambers.
The , Oakland Park , shop has some of the family memorabilia, including portraits, and a receipt of sale from the government, which has line items for 48 desks ($ 34 each ) and chairs ($ 46 each ), eight sofas ($ 150 each ) and five committee room tables ($ 48 each ), among other items. There were only 48 desks and chairs because it was the 1800s and since , Alaska , and , Hawaii , didn’t join the union until 1959.
The job was so popular in its time that a package of Constantine’s wood tests even is , now owned by the , National Museum of American History.
An old black-and-white image shows the Constantine’s shop in the , Bronx, with a 1950s Buick parked right inside. ” Explore our display area for art materials”, reads the indicator on the store’s exterior.
The company closed in 2001. The family said at the moment that the , New York , company’s closing may have been hastened by poor exposure and no opposite park and high income and the upkeep.
A move to Florida
When , Rachel Rodriguez ‘s , father,  , John Constantine Docherty, moved to , South Florida , in 1974, he opened J. C. Woodcraft Center on , Oakland Park Boulevard , in 1975.
Docherty , told the , South Florida Sun Sentinel , in 2001 , that the store lost money over the first eight years until he renamed it Constantine’s Wood Center, recognizing the value of the family name and noting that , South Florida , was teeming with New Yorkers.
He added a power tool line, which he could not afford to beat the prices of stores like Home Depot, before switching to what eventually became a successful line of decorative moldings.
Some of the items neatly arranged on the store shelves have been in their packages for decades, unsold, like a blending stain, still in the envelope marked with their last , New York , location on , Eastchester Road , in the , Bronx.
Other items have been the bane of high-end customers as they search for distinctive lines and colors for their custom charcuterie boards and cutting boards.
That includes exotic items of Bubinga wood and zebrawood from , Africa, purpleheart wood from Dutch Guiana, and , India , padauk.
Basswood sticks are on display, a staple for architecture college students who appear to visit each year when their midterm 3D models are due.
Sometimes, the store had to rush orders to calm panicked college students who said,” My project is due in two days”!
A South Florida family
Rudy Rodriguez , said he’s grateful for what they have had.
He and Rachel met when they were students at , Northeast High School , in , Oakland Park, and when he saw her in the hallway, it was love at first sight.
But he was just a sophomore and she was a junior, so she rebuked his interest.
” I was a class above him so I couldn’t be bothered with him”, she admits.
But Rudy was persistent. A love affair blossomed. Then they had two children while still in school, so Rudy’s relationship with his future father-in-law started off strained, he said.
” I had to earn my father-in-law’s love”, he said. ” We didn’t start off on the right foot”.
He eventually accepted the job of painting the warehouse floor at the age of 20, thanks to his father-in-law’s guidance in running the business and the sales associates ‘ knowledge of how to match wood, including the proper way to use a table saw, and how to use a table saw.
In 2001, Rachel Rodriguez’s father made the duo his officers, and when he retired, she and her husband took over in , September 2012.
Today , Rudy Rodriguez , is 50 and his wife is 51. The store and its continued financial success helped them raise three children and purchase their first home and then the following home.
They knew it was a legacy that mattered.
” I told her dad it wasn’t going to close on my watch” , , Rudy Rodriguez , said. ” I meant it. But we didn’t anticipate the pandemic”.
” My dad has given him his blessing” , , Rachel Rodriguez , said in assurance. ” It’s had its run”.
” Definitely the quality”
One of Constantine’s loyal customers has been , Mike Schneider, owner of Flatface Fingerboards in , Andover, Mass.  , He’s been buying veneer thin wood from them for more than a decade online, from the Constantine’s website.
He uses it to make miniature skateboards, items that are used with fingers instead of feet for tricks and competitions.
” They are one of my best sources for wood”, he said. ” Definitely the quality over everything else, that’s the No. 1 ( thing ) I look for”.
Seth Brody , tagged along with his father, who was a customer when the younger Brody was a high school student at , Nova High , in the 1990s. Dad came in and bought items like wheels for an end table from Brody’s father after he had repaired the furniture.
Now Brody lives in , Brooklyn, but when he was in , South Florida , on vacation and saw the closing sign, he had to come by. For old time’s sake.
He bought a veneer pack, packs of 30 wood species that are 3-inch-by-6-inch each, for a planned coffee table.
He fondly recalls the days of wood-only sales, when customers could” see the wood, touch the wood” ( see the wood, touch it ) ).
Even other businesses give them business.
Kimberly Transtrum, manager at , Builders Direct Kitchen, which shares the building as an adjacent storefront, said she is saddened to see the wood shop close.
Because her business is kitchen and bath remodeling, she said they have used Constantine’s over the years for moldings and decorative trims and stains.
She claimed that Builders Direct Kitchen is currently negotiating with the landlord to occupy the space used by the wood shop.
” It’s very sad to see a family-run business go out of business after so many years”, she said.
Rudy Rodriguez , knows many of the regulars by name.
” I’m going to miss the customers”, he says. It often was,” Hey, John! Hey, Larry! Hey, Bob”!
Facing change
The Rodriguezes claim that running the store today is a different experience, with rising rent, increasing clamps, fasteners, brushes, and glues that can be purchased online.
Even the luggage locks don’t sell any longer. ” We discovered Amazon has everything” , , Rachel Rodriguez , said.
There are items that lay unwanted, such as decorative ornaments for dressers and furniture.
” We used to not be able to keep these things in stock”, she said. ” But now I can’t sell them”.
” There’s not enough sales so not enough capital to buy the products that sell”, she said.
As customers ‘ habits were changing, the COVID pandemic delivered a crushing blow.
Suppliers who always used a middleman now pivoted to sell to customers directly or through Amazon, said , Rudy Rodriguez.
Because of online competitors, customers no longer needed a specialty shop for mainstream items of tools, such as chisels, although the ones sold at Constantine’s are made of steel and have a wood handle.
Rudy Rodriguez , said he can’t compete against the plastic furniture made from , Ikea , and the tools sold in hardware stores that are made in , China.
They anticipate that the doors will remain open until the end of January as they make an effort to unload their inventory.
Looking ahead
There is sweetness in their memories and their legacy, but there’s also a pang of regret.
Rudy Rodriguez , wonders aloud, what if they knew more about marketing? What if they had more knowledge of social media and were more tech savvy? Would that have made any difference?
” I never thought I’d be the one to close the place”, he said.
Rachel Rodriguez , stares at the family portraits on the wall.
One of the portraits shows her great-grandfather,  , Albert Constantine Jr., who at 18 joined his father’s business in 1920, started the Constantine Craft Division and also wrote the book,” Know Your Woods”.
” I think they’d say it was something to be proud of”, she says.
___
© 2024 South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Distributed by , Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
