By ANNELIA NIXON

Tribune Business Reporter

anixon@tribunemedia.net

Bahamian florists say they have endured a decline in Mother’s Day sales while having to pay suppliers more for their inventory.

With sales down in comparison to previous years, florists said they are still experiencing a slight uptick in customer volume. However, they are suffering price hikes and tariffs that have been added on to their purchases from suppliers. Marva Rolle, at Serenity Flowers, a local wholesaler, said with the tariffs being tacked on they will have to determine if their prices will also increase.

“We got sold out, but the tariff has been implemented in our invoices already,” Ms Rolle said. “But we did do pretty good. We did sell out. [Our] prices basically is the same. Overall, with the season, it goes up a bit. It would never be the same as every week. Mother’s Day and Valentine’s is always an increase in prices. The price would always be a little bit more than normal because, of course, the supplier goes up.

“Since the tariff prices have been implemented, this season here, Mother’s Day, was the first actual invoice we would have gotten with that tariff change. So now, moving forward, when they look at the invoices again, that would determine if we need to go up, or if we could still remain with the best prices that we carry now.”

While some florists said they would have to pass those extra costs on to the customer, others such as Toni Lewis, of Buds and Blossoms, said she would have to make some cuts.

“I guess considering the hike in prices, for example, the tariffs, especially that we have to endure and pay, prices have gone up and people are buying, but they are, of course, trying to bargain,” Ms Lewis said. “Before the flowers get here, basically it’s hundreds of dollars you have to pay in order to get them here.

“In business, you pass it on to the consumer as much as possible. But in this kind of industry, and during this kind of period, I have to eat it as well. I will have to probably cut back on the amount of flowers that we put in arrangements. They will probably not get as much bang for their buck, but we will make still make it as beautiful as before.”

Michelle McSweeney, the New Island Florist’s principal, added: “The thing about it is, you could always do different things. Flowers is a thing where you could add more flowers, you could use less flowers. You could add more cheaper flowers. You could add inexpensive flowers. It depends. You could always work around and still give the customer the best for their money.”

Ms Rolle said, as a wholesaler, they often do business with other local florists who have remarked that Mother’s Day sales are down for them as well.

“Wholesale with Mother’s Day season was pretty good,” Ms Rolle said. “Wholesale normally is always pretty okay because we always sell out. But it was definitely different. Even with a lot of customers that were coming in. They were mentioning that it’s not so many orders they have.

“And it’s a little different. I know we sold out, however, because we are wholesalers. We get to meet all different types of florists, and so a lot of them have been saying it wasn’t as busy as the prior year.”

“Flowers are always in demand. That’s one thing I noticed,” Ms Rolle added. “So I feel like business wouldn’t change much, honestly, because even during the pandemic business was always still going strong. So, I don’t know if it’s going to change much, because flowers are still needed for weddings and just every day arrangements. So I don’t think it’ll change much.”

Despite price challenges, florists said cutting employees is not an option and they will continue to explore opportunities to cope with price increases.