GREEN BAY, Wis. (WBAY) - The go-to item for most people to buy on Mother’s Day is flowers. They’re a token of appreciation to show how much you care for your mom.
But a few Green Bay shop owners struggled to stock their flower inventory ahead of Mother’s Day. Experts blame the pandemic and bad weather in Latin America for the issue.
Jeff Guttu was delivering bouquet of flowers on Sunday and he’s been doing this since 1975.
“Lots of big smiles this holiday and people have been very very nice,” Guttu said.
We caught up with him as he was dropping his 17th bouquet for the store Roots on 9th.
“Drive, pick up an arrangement, bring it to the door. It’s a lot of fun,” Guttu said.
90% of what Roots on 9th grows comes from its greenhouses where they focus on annuals.
“We grow mostly organic, so we use non-GMO seeds and heirloom varieties. We don’t use pesticides,” the store’s owner Jamie Peotter said. “We still buy a lot of our stuff from California, Holland, and you know, South America.”
Peotter added, “We have run into small freight issues but all in all we got some great product this year.” She called the Mother’s Day holiday successful for her business.
According to the American Floral Society, a protest in Colombia caused minor delays in flower shipments.
Josh Kozlowski owns Nature’s Best Floral and Boutique in Green Bay and he said flower inventory was hard to get. Despite that, he fulfilled more than 300 deliveries this week.
“Because there’s not as many people traveling to South America, Mexico, California, Alaska, Canada, where we get a lot of our flowers. Holland. A lot of our distributors had to actually rent passenger planes to get all the flowers here,” Kozlowski said.
Industry experts added growers planted less flowers in preparation for this year because they weren’t sure of the demand after taking a hit in 2020.
Some florists paid a surcharge when buying flowers due to the freight problems.
“Instead of passing that on, I just ate the surcharges just because I want to make sure that we’re getting as much flowers out there to everyone,” Kozlowski said.
According to the National Retail Federation, Mother’s Day spending was expected to hit a record $28.1 billion with 68% of people planning to buy flowers.
Both Green Bay shops we interviewed reported a welcomed but unexpected boom for the holiday and it definitely kept Guttu busy on Sunday.
“A delivery for ya,” he said handing out a bouquet for a mother who recently gave birth.
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The Link LonkMay 10, 2021 at 06:10AM
https://www.wbay.com/2021/05/09/pandemic-cooler-temps-in-latin-american-impact-mothers-day-flower-supply/
Pandemic, cooler temps in Latin America impact Mother's Day flower supply - WBAY
https://news.google.com/search?q=Flower&hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US:en
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