Maplewood Florists Hope Business Grows in Spring

With Spring comes flowers. Maplewood florists are hoping that it will bring increased sales, too. But just as flowers need sunlight and water to blossom, flower shops depend on other stores and services to survive. Florists make most of their money from weddings, parties, funerals and corporate office decorations. Maplewood florists say that as businesses and individuals cut back on their spending, it is taking a toll on their shops.

“It has definitely slowed down. Where we used to have 15 or 20 deliveries on average, now we only have eight or nine [per day],” Every Li’l Thing owner Marie Champagnie said.

Jerry Rose Floral and Event Design owner Jerry Rose said people are still entertaining, but they are “doing it low-key.”

“They are not going to the extreme,” Rose said. “People still have to get married, but the level of entertainment is different. They are more cautious now.”

Customers are being especially cautious with wedding budgets. Lotus Petals Floral Design owner Peggy Excel-Stone has seen customers slashing their budgets.

“My typical wedding budget is $6,000-$8,000, and now people are not wanting to spend more than $2,000,” Excel-Stone said. For Champagnie, the cuts have been even more drastic. “In the last three years I have had people spending $8,000 or $9,000 on a regular basis… now they are hardly spending over $1,000. They are just getting the bare essentials,” she said.

Couples are cutting back on centerpieces. Some are completely eliminating flowers from the decoration scheme. “I just had a bride who said she is just doing the bridal bouquet and the one for her husband,” Champagnie said. “She wanted the big wedding, but this is what she can afford, so she said this is all she can do.”

Excel-Stone has been working hard to creatively meet customer wishes. For one recent wedding, she created centerpieces out of greens and candles, cutting flowers to save money. “Creativity is the key,” she said.

When clients come in with a set budget, they have to be patient and willing to work with the florist to develop a set-up that will meet their vision. If the budget is reasonable, it can always be done, “it’s just a matter of creativity.” Rose said customers have been “pleasantly surprised with how beautiful [events] turn out” even when they are on a cautious budget.

Florists have seen a major change with corporate business. “With corporate clients, I think this [floral decoration] is one of the first things they cut. I see them eliminating completely, unless it is a special event,” Excel-Stone said. At Rose’s shop, an employee said corporate clients are now “much more conscious of budgets. ”Everyday sales have kept steady. Excel-Stone chocks this up to quality. “Customers want more bang for their buck,” she said. “So they are buying flowers that will last a long time. Flowers that you can buy here will last two weeks or more.”

Bargain-priced flowers from grocery and chain stores do not last as long because they have to go through a distribution chain before reaching the store; the flowers at local flower shops are on sale within hours of being cut. “In general, [customers] are pickier about their purchase and want to make sure that they have a quality product for their investment,” Excel-Stone said.

Rose said walk-in sales are steady in his store as well. “People are still looking to refresh their homes,” he said, “but they may pick up something that will last longer.” He said they now opt for blooming plants and orchids, rather than floral arrangements—basically, plants with a longer life expectancy.  

As spring brings warmer weather, all three owners expect sales to increase. In downtown areas, warmer weather always brings more foot traffic. But even the cold temperatures haven’t kept walk-ins away from Every Li’l Thing. 

“Walk-in business, you know, buying on the way home, is actually better,” Champagnie said. She thinks the state of the economy may have something to do with the increase. “They stop in more often. I don’t know why, maybe they want to cheer themselves up.”