When it comes to ordering flowers where you purchase them can make all the difference. The saying quality over quantity has never rung more true especially in the world of flowers. To the untrained eye a large bouquet of flowers may seem like a steal when a florist may be selling a smaller bouquet at the same price, but there are many differences to consider!
Grocery VS Florist Bought: The Basics
For starters, flower shops such as ours purchase their flowers with the same amount of care and attention that we put into our designs. If you ever stop by our shop when one of our vendors is delivering their flowers, you will see us combing through each bunch ensuring that the blooms we end up with are the very best. This pales in comparison to the bulk buying that major chain grocery stores do. Often times their flowers are bought at a discount and not given much of a go over. This is not to say that you can’t buy decent flowers at a grocery store, but when it comes to sourcing flowers grocery stores are more likely to think about saving money first before quality. As for us, we take the higher cost every time if it means that we are getting the best and freshest flowers.
Grocery Store Flowers Often Come From Different Sources
Florists cultivate relationships with high quality vendors, sometimes grocery stores don't do this sourcing - simply looking for the cheapest bunch. These flowers often don't last as long. Speaking of sourcing, when you work with a florist versus a grocery store, you can request specific flowers that grocery stores may not have or even get due to budgeting reasons. Premium flowers such as peonies and dahlias for example are scarcer in grocery stores and if found you will hard pressed to find them in their prime. Chances are they will be from a discounted bunch for a reason. Ask any florist for a specific flower and we will try our best to source it for you or if out of season we can suggest something similar that is in season. For example, at The English Garden we can even take your contact information and notify you as soon as we get that flower in.
We work closely with our vendors ensuring that we are kept informed on what is going on in the flower world so that we can deliver the best to our clients. A part of this comes from our expertise of having trained and worked in this industry for years. After all, floristry is an art that can’t be taught in a two week training period at your local grocery store. The floral arts is chosen out of pure passion for flowers and is learned through many unseen hours of practice and working early hours of the morning and late into the night. It’s the real grind that no one sees that sets us apart and it’s driven by passion.
We Don't Just Sell Flowers, We Love Them
This passion is the reason we florists get up at ungodly hours of the morning. Whether we’re meeting with flower vendors or on the hunt for a container that is the perfect shade of pink for a specific client or perhaps for a type of flower that will be the wow factor in a bridal bouquet. We don’t adhere by a corporate manual because we are the artists and sole creators behind our creations. This is especially evident if you were to compare grocery store arrangements to ours just on visuals alone, but you can’t blame grocery stores for their lack of creativity or quality. A flower shop’s sole business relies on flowers and creating memorable works of art for our clients, while a grocery store’s business deals primarily with food and being that one stop shop for anything from bread to greeting cards and even shampoo.
The Ultimate Difference?
Ultimately, you can say that the main difference between us and grocery stores is not just our higher quality flowers, but the special care and attention we deliver. We aren’t here just to sell flowers, we are here to sell an experience. Whether that experience is pure joy via a birthday arrangement or a feeling of comfort through sympathy flowers, whatever it may be we aim to create something to be cherished and remembered using hand selected high quality blooms.
