Florist doing best to meet orders with limited supply chain

LINDEN, Texas — Carla Surratt was tickled May 1 to take down the sign on her gift shop door: “Knock and I’ll come to the door.”

She was happy to be open, thanks to the Texas governor’s May 1 reopening permission and even with its 25% customer gathering limit.

But one issue remained. It was still difficult, if not impossible, to get the fresh flowers her customers wanted.

The supply chain, which is particularly important when dealing with live flowers, had dried up.

“A customer called just now and hung up on me when I said I didn’t have the flowers she wanted,” Surratt said. “But what can I do when I’ve already got three or four other customers promised and who are waiting on their orders to be filled?”

It simply hasn’t been easy to have real flowers back in the shop. Persons with funerals, weddings, nursing-home residents or birthdays find the circumstance difficult, especially when there’s only one flower shop in town and with other towns experiencing the same shortage.

But here’s the silver lining in Surratt’s small-business dilemma.

“I’ve been able to make something do,” she said. “For everyone. No one has gone without something. Maybe artificial flowers, maybe postponing an occasion or using some other kind of honor gifts. I’ve not had to turn anyone down completely.”

She’s proud of that effort — the effort of a small business to fill neighborly customers’ needs.

As a single person owning and operating a store, which means she’s the only employee, Surratt said she knows everything depends upon her. It’s a challenge.

On one occasion during these three weeks of few flower deliveries, Surratt had made an arrangement with the supplier to be her own delivery person.

“I was going to drive to Texarkana to pick up and deliver the flowers myself. So I got up and went in early. But when I got there, nothing had been made ready, no one was there to help me. Nothing.”

In the long run, it didn’t matter that the unidentified customer on the telephone had hung up. Surratt was happy to helped the people she knew.

The sign that had said “Knock and I’ll come to the door” was gone, and the door was open — to small groups of people.

Staff photo by Neil Abeles ■ Carla Surratt waves from her flower and gift shop in Linden, Texas. Even though it’s difficult to get the fresh flowers people want and need, she’s been able to fill orders in some manner for every request.