A Bristol florist has spoken about the financial difficulties facing independent flower shops after prices rocketed to a 30-year-high. Vera Harhat is the owner of a flower shop in Totterdown called Floriography, where she takes a unique approach to creating bespoke floral arrangements for every customer.
Vera says that contending with seasonal produce and shopping habits has meant that floristry has always been a tough job, but she believes that things are tougher at the moment for a local flower shop like hers than they've ever been. She said: “It's hard work, but usually, there are some things that remain consistent. And then you can use your brain to kind of deal with the stuff that's inconsistent. But at the moment, it's not just that it's such high prices. It's that it's so volatile the market as well."
Soaring costs and a drop in customers' disposable income have created high levels of uncertainty for florists like Vera, as she says flower prices are currently at a 30-year high. She said: “A couple of weeks ago, I logged on one day, and I just cried when I saw the prices. And I thought, gosh, it was higher than I'd ever seen.”
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She says that this increase is partly due to high energy prices, as it's more expensive to grow flowers in the northern hemisphere this winter. This has been coupled with less volume being produced since the pandemic and high demand driven in part by the backlog of weddings. All this is making it difficult for florists, arrangers and wholesalers alike.
Vera said: "I think we're all trying to deal with it in our separate ways. But the way I work, I wouldn't be able to continue doing this for a whole year. Hopefully, the wholesalers are saying maybe by March, when flowers grow more naturally, especially in this country, there'll be more flowers. So the demand will meet supply a bit better. So I think I'm just holding my breath, hoping that that is an accurate kind of forecast.
"I think there is a fear that flowers become a luxury. I don't think they're a luxury. I think if you've got a choice over spending a small amount, you know, I'm biased - I'm gonna say flowers."
Before becoming a florist over eight years ago, Vera worked as a mental health nurse and teacher, but she grew up around flowers, with her parents running greengrocers and florists. Her ethos is that flowers shouldn't just be reserved for big occasions but also everything in between.
Vera said: “If you look at our online order form, I don't think it's like any other florist. You can't select a particular bunch. We don't do that. It's all about your flower story. So we ask questions like, What do you want your bouquet to say? What are the sentiments that you're trying to convey?
“Every bouquet is different, so there is a lot of trust that I'm going to create them something beautiful at the end of that. And sometimes people don't realise I'm chatting away to them, asking them questions, and I'm using that energy to make the flowers, taking on parts of what they've said and interpreting that into emotion."
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