OAKLAND PARK — Rachel Rodriguez looks around her store, and emotions surface at the sight of her relatives’ portraits on the walls. They’re a reminder of a legacy that dates back more than 200 years.
Her business, Constantine’s Wood Center, soon will close in Oakland Park.
It’ll conclude a chapter in the long-running story of the family business, whose vibrant history centered on mastering cabinetwork and offering a “craftsman’s headquarters for fine woods.”
The tradition, tracing to New York in the early 1800s, endured with the Oakland Park store, at 1040 E. Oakland Park Blvd . The store lasted as a stable spot for almost 50 years in Broward, but then business waned.
“It’s hard,” Rodriguez says at work on a recent Friday, wiping a tear. “It’s your life.”
Rachel’s husband and business partner, Rodolfo “Rudy” Rodriguez, says the challenges only grew in recent years, particularly during the pandemic. “For two years it’s been rough,” he said. “But we did everything we could to hold on to it.”