As shops shutter their doors across the province, florists and garden centres are still on the list of essential services -- a gift that many entrepreneurs aren’t taking for granted, even if they don’t totally understand it.
“We say to ourselves that there must be a florist around the premier,” said Marie-Pier Verpaelst, co-owner of Rita Fleuriste in Sherbrooke.
Florists were designated essential when the province announced new lockdown measures on Dec. 26. “We were almost embarrassed,” she said. “We felt bad for the other businesses that couldn’t open.”
The province says florists are essential “because their inventories perishable and alive.” On the other hand, garden centres are essential because they fall into the ‘hardware’ category.