The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)

Mother’s Day flower deliveries ‘going to be insane’

Local florists face social distancing, shutdown hurdles

- By Jim Fuller

There’s no such thing as the calm before the storm for a florist as Mother’s Day approaches, even during normal times.

However, with social-distancing policies in place, filling orders for the perfect arrangemen­t for mom’s special day has proven to be more challengin­g than ever before.

Hearst Connecticu­t Media reached out to Trumbull-based City Line Florist, a family-owned venture that has been in business for more than 100 years, and Bloomy CT, a locally based, direct-to-doorstep plant and flower delivery service recently launched by a pair of Clinton natives and University of Connecticu­t graduates, to explore the specific challenges of delivering flowers during these times.

Sending love remotely

The days of people wandering into the store to pick a certain arrangemen­t are on hold thanks to the mass gathering restrictio­ns in place due to COVID-19.

“We have a very European-style setup where all of our flowers and arrangemen­ts are outside,” said Nicole Palazzo, manager of City Line Florist.

Palazzo said the grab-andgo setup, while safe, doesn’t allow for the back-and-forth she’s used to — “five of this color, two of this, leave out that” — which was her favorite part of in-store transactio­ns.

“Ordering alone is definitely different,” said Palazzo, who said City Line’s website also has been tweaked to make it more user-friendly.

Some of the issues City Line has had to address and other changes it has made include:

⏩Limited flower supply due to a number of growers and wholesaler­s shutting down

⏩A smaller workforce to pick the flowers and create the arrangemen­ts

⏩Lack of flights from

Holland and other regions that would supply flowers

⏩ No-contact delivery for every customer

⏩ Delivery drivers come only into the basement at City Line Florist and need to call when they are set to return for another delivery pickup

⏩ Protective masks and gloves are worn at all times with hand washing done at a minimum of every hour

“It definitely has changed and the selection is limited,” said Palazzo, part of the fourth generation of her family to deliver flowers to much of Fairfield and New Haven counties.

“They can only handle so many deliveries following the (social distancing)x guidelines. You can only do so many deliveries with such a little staff,” she said. “It is just impossible to do as many as you have done in the past, so definitely order early.”

Worldwide web a saving grace

It’s hard to imagine what would have happened to the floral industry without the internet. Certainly Bloomy CT co-founders John Connolly and Pip Mullally would not be in the flower delivery business without customers being able to order arrangemen­ts online.

“The response has been quite overwhelmi­ng,” Mullally said. “We placed over 50 orders and we just decided to launch last week.”

“We both decided on a whim to just start this thing and it sort of grew,” he said of Bloomy CT, which serves parts of New Haven, Middlesex and Fairfield counties.

Palazzo looked at City Line Florist’s pageviews from the Tuesday before Mother’s Day in 2019 and saw an increase of 350 percent in the number of online visits this past Tuesday. She has a sense of the increased online traffic based on how things happened leading up to Easter.

“We had the busiest Easter that we have ever had and Mother’s Day is just going to be insane,” Palazzo said. “(Flower delivery) is just a great way to stay connected to someone.”

No-contact delivery the only option

Both businesses are taking all the necessary precaution­s to provide the safe delivery of floral arrangemen­ts.

Connolly and Mullally will be handling the delivery themselves, picking up the arrangemen­ts from their supplier in Norwalk and doing the deliveries on what figures to be one hectic Saturday.

City Line Florist is working with its delivery drivers to provide no-contact delivery.

“We have been posting photos on social media of our designers designing with their mask on, their gloves on and the hand sanitizer, so I have tried to shine a light on how we are completely sanitary,” Palazzo said. “We are letting people know we are only doing curbside, no-contact delivery, making sure it is out there. People are definitely asking about our delivery guidelines.”

City Line Florist has overcome a variety of challenges to stay in business for four generation­s while Bloomy CT is sure to have an eyeopening induction to the flower delivery business by the end of the week.

“This serves a purpose and demonstrat­es to us how big this potential market can be,” Mullally said. “We are testing the waters by doing a limited service area. It is going to be interestin­g come Saturday.”

 ?? Erik Trautmann / Hearst Connecticu­t Media ?? Braach’s Flowers employees, including Juan Gonzalez, prepare floral deliveries for Mother’s Day at their shop in South Norwalk.
Erik Trautmann / Hearst Connecticu­t Media Braach’s Flowers employees, including Juan Gonzalez, prepare floral deliveries for Mother’s Day at their shop in South Norwalk.
 ?? Erik Trautmann / Hearst Connecticu­t Media ?? Braach's Flowers owner Linda Vinci prepares floral deliveries for Mother's Day at the shop in South Norwalk.
Erik Trautmann / Hearst Connecticu­t Media Braach's Flowers owner Linda Vinci prepares floral deliveries for Mother's Day at the shop in South Norwalk.
 ??  ?? Braach’s Flowers employees, including Amanda Wheeler and Juan Gonzalez, prepare floral deliveries for Mother’s Day at the shop in South Norwalk.
Braach’s Flowers employees, including Amanda Wheeler and Juan Gonzalez, prepare floral deliveries for Mother’s Day at the shop in South Norwalk.

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