Well done everyone for making the very best of Valentines Day under very unusual trading conditions, I have spoken to lots of very tired but happy florists this week!

I wanted to take a moment to give you the latest information and news in our spring news letter.

Fresh Flowers

The weather is improving which will hopefully lead to better supply/greater quantities of fresh flower at a more reasonable price, however we do have to compete with International Womens Day on 8th March 2021. Unfortunately as this is in the run up to our UK Mothersday it will increase demand for fresh flowers and almost certainly cause a spike in prices as we experienced for Valentines Day.

Plants

Plants now have to be checked and certificated before they can depart Holland and sometimes in the UK as well, which slows down our process and extends the lead time to two days instead of previous one day. Whilst we require you to buy an extra day in advance  it does allow us to give you access to our entire plant stock.

You can view the full range of plant stocks from 6am until midnight to buy two days before you require it, this stock is available to view 7 days a week. Please note the plant stocks are uploaded continuously throughout the day as we buy/receive stock from the auction and from growers. It is a good idea to visit the site more than once a day to ensure you see all that is available, the more you visit the more you see.

We hope to have a Plant pre-order system in place by next week or possibly the week after. This will operate in the same way  as the flower pre-order system i.e. opening six days before required date and offering an estimated/guide price.

Cash and Carry

WE WILL CONTINUE TO OFFER A CLICK AND COLLECT SERVICE  WITH ENTRY INTO THE FRONT HALL ONLY UNTIL AFTER MOTHERSDAY EVEN IF RESTRICTIONS ARE LIFTED. Logistically it would be very difficult to make changes to revert to normal service at short notice during this very busy period.

Sundries

We are having issues keeping the shelves filled as sundries supplies are difficult at the moment. There are many contributing factors, lots of stock is held up in the Far East due to the shipping containers issues we told you about recently, European import is more complicated than it was pre-Brexit and European suppliers are struggling to keep up with increased demand. Whilst we are doing all we can to keep stock coming through deliveries are sporadic and unreliable so please try to think ahead and buy your sundries in advance, it will not always be possible to pick items up the day before. We hope this situation will ease over the next 3-6 months.

At present we are working hard to re-vamp and re-organise our sundries department, which will maximise the space and improve the shopping experience. There is some extra space to fill so please let me know if there are any items we don’t currently have or any specific suppliers you would like us to look at/potentially stock.

Visits

Sadly during this last year I haven’t been able to get out and about to visit in person due to Covid but I am always contactable should you need anything and welcome your feedback on how we can improve our service. tracyrowbottom@flowervisionbristol.co.uk . 

Wishing you all a successful Mothering Sunday week, we are always here to help if you need anything.

Best Wishes

Tracy