Mother’s Day may not be the same this year as flower shops are struggling with an array of issues from delivery delays to shipping cancelations and inflation.
“It's been such a day here you can't imagine,” said the owner of A Bella Mia flower shop in Norwood, Massachusetts.
Marie Noe often turns to her late grandmother when things get too thorny.
“We have arguments every day for why I'm still standing here. But this is where she wanted me to be,” said Noe while staring at an old photo of her grandmother.
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But lately, problems stemming from the pandemic are just too many to bear, causing delays, cancelled orders and angry customers.
“It is to the point where I want to retire,” she admitted. “I try my best to please them all, and there will be those who you can't please no matter what you do – wrong shade of pink, wrong shade of blue.”
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Orders for flowers continue to pile up at A Bella Mia as Mother’s Day approaches; keeping up has been a challenge for Noe and her staff.
“South America is having a hard time getting the flowers shipped. It's going to be really scarce,” said the 60-year-old florist.
Delivery drivers are also hard to come by, too, said Noe. She has four she relies on, and Jeffrey Victor is one of them.
“This week is going to be very busy, very hectic,” he noted.
Victor is averaging 40 deliveries a day this week, he said. But he enjoys each one of them.
“I like to make people smile,” he said.
Supply chain issues paired with inflation means not everyone is going to get what they want, exactly how they want it, and that’s OK for customer Sheri Nichols.
“I think any kind of flowers shows how much you care,” said Nichols.
For 20 years Noe has pushed through, fulfilling her calling and fulfilling orders. This Mother’s Day, she’s asking for a little more love from customers, while also honoring the woman that got her into the flower business in the first place.
“She told me I wouldn't regret it,” Noe said of her grandmother. And she was right, she added.
