My mother, who at 77 apparently reads the obituaries daily, has commented a few times recently that the florists must really be hurting. Nearly every obit says...."in lieu of flowers......" and then lists charities, funds, schools, etc., that the family would like to see donations made to instead of flowers.It seems all the big grocery stores have floral shops. Not just for bouquets and cut flowers either. Some actually have people there who can make up arrangements. The grocery store I most often shop in is owned by a huge conglomerate in Holland. So that's where the bulk of their profits go.
I admit, I have grabbed flowers there a few times for Mom or my own table for a special occasion. But when I need an arrangement, I call a florist. I even have a few in my contact list in Florida and Louisiana, where I have family, that I call when I need something sent to someone down there.
So what IS happening to the local florists? Slowly going out of business, I would guess. Paul and I feel strongly that we should Think Globally, Act Locally, or in this case, Buy Locally. I've even written a couple posts about a buy local organization I belong to.
We have several friends who own small businesses, Paul's cousin and his wife actually own a flower shop. I wrote about friends who own a hardware store. I can tell you, these people are struggling. They are swimming against a tide that is most likely going to take them under. It's just a question of when.
It's a new year. One of my resolutions is to make more of an effort to shop locally.
21 comments:
I love this idea, and I have been trying to embrace it more. I've been looking for more local businesses for many things. Never go to a Kinkos or Staples for printing needs, I have a friend who owns a print shop, does beautiful and well priced work. We are trying to visit more local restaurants. We have a local sporting goods store, we know the owners there too. We have no local food stores. We do have a couple of locally owned hardware stores..........but it is hard to leave Lowes. Thanks for the reminder!
Stopping by from SITS.
I totally agree and try to do this whenever possible. I just moved to suburbia and find it really sad that there are so few small and local shops. I actually drive back tot he city often to support the small stores I love so much.
Stopping by from SITS!
I do like to go to the market when I can. My husband and I definitely love to visit small restaurants in lieu of chains. Good luck with your resolution!
I live near a very small village that supports a flourist shop, but have seen numerous other shops close. They are going the way of small farms. We do have a winery that grows fresh produce as well in the summer.
Thank you for visiting my blog...I would like to follow yours!
It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Sandy and thank you for the follow. I love this post and the idea of shopping locally. We try to buy from the small mom and pop shops and much as we can but sadly they are a disappearing breed. :-(
That is great advice. If I can hand deliver flowers I do because the costs are so high for delivery.
My local florist is basically empty inside, no gift items like they use to have. I guess they stay in business because of out of state orders for local deliveries.
I buy flowers in the grocery store.
When it comes to cemeteries, flowers are not such a good idea as they stain the tombstones.
Buying locally, on the other hand, is a very good idea.
This is an important message at any time, but even more so now in this economy.
Well I can tell you that I have a friend who is..or was...a florist. They closed their doors a little over a year ago. I made an earnest go at this Christmas to ONLY buy Christmas presents from local retailers...nothing that I could get anywhere else except Bluegrass Country. And as a jewelry designer, I appreciate it when people try to live by this rule, too. There are tons of us out there, small business that will give you better customer service any day of the week then big-box stores, you just have to think of us first. Thanks for posting! I love it when people actually stop to think about the origin of the things they buy.
It is sad to see these small businesses disappearing.
I rarely use a florist, but the day before christmas, when I was doing last-minute shopping and wanted to avoid the crowds, I stopped into a local florist. It was so pretty and peaceful, and it gave me the idea of giving plants as gifts (very well received). I will be returning there.
Great post, Sandy. Unless we all start to realize what our purchases at WalMart, Walgreens, etc are doing to our culture, we are doomed. Thanks for the reminder.
Thanks so much for stopping by Catbird Scout. And for this reminder about why we want to shop locally. Looking forward to reading more of your writing.
Thanks so much for coming to visit and leaving a comment...it's always so nice to hear from new readers. Our favorite florist shop went out of business a couple of years ago. It was a shame, because it had been in the neighborhood for several decades.
We have several local florists and they all seem to be thriving. I think the Swedes tend to buy arrangements and flowers from them rather than the big stores, even if they are more expensive.
I do agree and what a great saying; Think Globally - Act Locally !
Since I hate malls, I always go to smaller local shops and find they give much better service - but then again, I'm a Norwegian :-)
An old family friend grew orchids for a large part of the southeastern U.S. He was eventually driven out of the business when it became more economical to FedEx flowers from Asia than to grow them in hothouses here. We still try to buy local, but it's getting harder all the time to buy local products.
it's such a great thing to buy locally and support your local businesses.We're all in it together
Hello! Stopping in from SITS. Sometimes we forget about the little guys because it's so convenient to just get it all in one big place. But you're right, we need to support our local businesses. Thanks for the reminder to do so more often.
I agree we need to support all we can.
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