With the circular issued by the Ministry of Interior in Turkey, florists were exempted for 2 days from a 17-day full lockdown due to May 9th being Mother's Day. Some, who are exempted for 2 days before they are fully closed again, had a busy Mother's Day, like in Fethiye ,reports Gercek Fethiye. However, not in all areas, it has been that busy. According to an article publsihed in Amerikanın Sesi, Izmir florists had plenty of unsold flower. And also at the auction in Istanbul, it has been slow, Et Tavuk Piyasası reported.
Busy Mother's Day for florists in Fethiye
(Source: Gercek Fethiye)
Citizens were free to buy flowers from the closest florist to their home between 10.00-17.00, Sude Floristry shopkeeper Hamza Ozden told Gercek Fethiye: "First of all, I would like to thank our state for this opportunity. The people of Fethiye did not leave us alone again. During the pandemic period, we were experiencing very difficult times. However, with this exemption, we were able to enjoy a short-term boost in our business which helped us at least to recoup some of our financial losses which occurred to the coronavirus measures and restrictions."
Slow Mother's Day in Izmir
(Source: Amerikanın Sesi)
However, Huseyin Celik, the President of the Aegean Florists Production and Marketing Cooperative, who has been working in the Alsancak district of Izmir for years, told Amerikanın Sesi that despite all the preparations they made, Mother's Day was slow:
Huseyin Celik: "Most of the consumers are shopping online due to the pandemic. Of course, most of our customers do not go out because they shop on the internet. But of course, we have still some loyal customers coming out for supporting our business because we are a very old flower shop here. We have a 30-year history here."
Reminding that cut flowers are a perishable product, Celik said that florists should also be completely exempted from restrictions. Celik said, “The weather is very hot. Normally, the flowers should go into cold storage. But of course, most of the florists do not have a cold storage room for their flowers. That's why they need to be able to sell their products continuously without a break in order to earn a living and reduce their waste level."
Turkish Florists Union President Ismail Basaran: "The average arrangement was between 6 and 12 USD on Mother's Day and pot flowers were preferred during this period. Flower vendors were open for Mother's Day. There was confusion amongst florists about going to the flower auction and buying flowers. Florists sometimes get support from family members or acquaintances for the delivery of flowers during this busy period. This can create a problem during the lockdown period. If the orders get not delivered at the last minute due to the lockdown measures, then most of the flowers go unsold and discarded as waste within the next few days. There are more than 10 thousand florists in Turkey."
Ergin Demir, another street florist in Alsancak, stated that Mother's Day was celebrated under restrictions last year and said, “We are already dealing with decreasing demand and consequently we throw away a lot of flowers. We are also dealing with restrictions. I was able to open my street shop for a maximum of three months in the last year."
Murat Acarli, who bought flowers for his wife and mother with his little child, is one of the lucky people who live in a house nearby his mother and therefore can visit her for Mother's Day. Acarli said that they could not go out on the street much due to the restrictions and said that he would buy red roses for his wife and mother.
Nihat Ates, who runs a flower shop, also stated that their business has dropped significantly due to the empty streets: “Alsancak is empty because everybody goes to the summer house. We have a delivery service to the houses. Of course, mothers are very happy when we bring flowers to their homes." Ates noted that sales of flowers on the internet have also seriously affected them.
Slow at the auction
(source: Et Tavuk Piyasası)
Flowers collected from all provinces of Turkey took their place in the auctions to be displayed on flower stalls for Mother's Day. Flower growers came to the auction building in Sariyer Ayazaga in the early hours of the morning. However, the seats of the hall, which had been very busy during Mother's Day week in previous years, remained largely empty this year due to a complete lockdown in the city because of the coronavirus, Et Tavuk Piyasası reported. In the auction held in the Sariyer branch of the Limited Liability (S.S) Flora Floristry Production and Marketing Cooperative, which has 18 branches throughout Turkey, sales are made on the basis of auction. While the flowers are displayed on the moving conveyor, the florists who want to buy the product, compete with each other. The florist who offers the highest price becomes the owner of the flowers passing through the belt.
S.S Flora Floristry Production and Marketing Cooperative Sales Manager Suleyman Ciftci: “In previous years, flower auctions close to Mother's Day were full of activity and, all of these seats were full. Due to the pandemic, a 17-day lockdown now resulted in a mostly empty auction hall. We experienced this during the same periods last year, but it was better. This year the lockdown lasted too long, Although the Ministry made a statement that the florists will continue their services from 10 am to 5 pm on the Mother's Day weekend, the days after that and the previous days were closed, which consequently affected our market a lot. Our growers were also affected by this. They don't want to send flowers to the auction goods because the prices are too low. They stored in cold storage rooms to sell at a later date. We as an industry are experiencing a great financial loss.
We collect flowers and plants from the growers and sell them here by auction. Last year, 5 to 6 million stems of flowers were sold here in the week of Mother's Day alone. That volume is halved this year. As the flower is a fresh product, after a week it starts to decay and deteriorate thus there should have been no restrictions on the florists and growers during the lockdown.
Just like the white carnation is the most popular for Teachers' day and the red rose is for Valentine's Day, daisy is the most preferred flower of Mother's day."
Turkish consumers purchase flowers not only from florist shops but also from street vendors. However, most vendors were not granted an exemption for Mother's Day and were forced to stay at home to their dismay. The street vendors were frustrated with this situation and noted that they should be not forced to miss such a busy day for the industry and they were suffering greatly as they were not allowed to sell their products on this day. As most street vendors supply their flowers from the auction halls, the auction halls saw a significantly decreased activity in their absence.