City Council: Flowers sold on street don’t smell as sweet
Councilor pushes an ordinance to outlaw on-street flower sales
WOONSOCKET – In a certain sector of the small business community that specializes in selling living things with colorful petals, Councilwoman Denise Sierra has come out smelling like roses. After the first solo piece of legislation she’s introduced since being elected over a year ago, Sierra is getting bouquets of respect from the owners of the city’s few remaining independent flower shops - arguably an endangered species.
Preliminarily passed by the City Council this week, the measure outlaws competition from pop-up vendors who hawk flowers from street corners on those peak-consumption occasions – Mother’s Day, Valentine’s Day, Easter Sunday – before vanishing.
“These peddlers, they just hit and run, they don’t collect taxes or anything else,” says Ralph Bileau of Bileau’s Flowers – a brick-and-mortar store in business since the 1940s. “It’s a lot of unfair practices.” There used to be more independently owned flower shops in the city, but now Bileau’s, along with Park Square Florist and Fontana’s Flowers – are the last that remain. Over the years, they’ve faced increasing competition from supermarkets, big box pharmacies and – yes – the street peddlers. Bileau, who co-owns the Diamond Hill Road store with Jeanne Bis, recognizes that the fly-by-night flower vendors aren't the only threat, but he says the new legislation is a hedge, and it shows somebody in local government is looking out for his interests.
“I’m glad it’s happening,” said Bileau – he just wishes it would have happened sooner. “It’s at the end of my years. All I can say is I been here 68 years, this is the first time I’ve ever heard of them doing anything to help the flower people. Roy Warhol of Park Square Florist agrees. “It’s about time,” said Warhol, who’s been at the same location since 1981.
Warhol said he’s stood fast against the competitive onslaughts of chain merchandisers since the days when the now-defunct
Almac’s, also in Park Square Square, began selling cut flowers. Next came Stop &Shop and then the pharmacies.
But Warhol says it’s particularly galling to see the street peddlers set up shop near Pearl’s Candy on the holidays – just a few hundred feet from his doorstep – selling their wares to passing motorists in the busy Park Square traffic hub.
“I don’t think they needed a peddler’s license and I don’t think they were paying taxes,” said Warhol. “We have to pay taxes. We have to pay federal taxes.”
Sierra’s brick-and-mortar protection bill isn’t a total insulator from competition, but Warhol says it’s the kind of competition that should be corralled because it’s unfair. And, like Bileau, the measure shows that someone in city government is doing something simple and tangible to show respect for small businesses.
“It’s been a long time coming,” says Councilwoman Sierra. “It’s about business. We tend not to pro- tect the businesses that are already here. I feel the administration should always be focused on getting new business in, but we have in the past decade seen a mass exodus of business from the community. The focus ought to be on making sure what we have stays.”
Sierra said she knows about the concerns of small businesspersons because she is one herself. For 10 years, Sierra owned and operated the Burrito Company, and before that, she had managed some much larger, hall-size venues in the area, including he former King’s Inn in Lincoln and the Bocce Club.
This isn’t the fist time Sierra has come out strongly in support of the small business community. When Market Square restaurateurs protested “Food Truck Fridays” in their backyard last summer, Sierra was among the most strident opponents. She called the series of mobile food-fests “a slap in the face” to the established, taxpaying businesses.
“The flower shops feel it just like the restaurants feel it from the food trucks,” said Sierra. “For too many years the base has been neglected. This was put in as a way of saying, ‘We know you’re here, we know this hurts... Why would we ever allow it?’”
Though this is the first piece of legislation Sierra has introduced without a co-sponsor since she was elected in 2016, the aspiring champion of the local momand-pops says constituents can expect more legislative support in the near future.
Sierra’s measure prohibits all sales of flowers from a vehicle, cart or “any other conveyance that is not a permanent location.” The measure calls for violators to be fined up to $200 per offense.
The ordinance also makes provision to allows waivers for city-sanctioned events, like fairs, festivals and fundraisers.
Sierra’s proposal was passed on a 6-0 vote during the council’s most recent meeting in Harris Hall. The measure would take effect on Dec. 29 if it follows the usual track, including mandatory second passage by the council at its next regularly scheduled meeting, on Dec. 18.