BANGALORE: What strikes you first when you feel like gifting a friend or a dear one? The first thing that comes to one’s mind is fresh flowers or a beautiful bouquet. Yes, it is much easier to buy a floral bouquet now, as many florists are seen selling colourful and exquisitely arranged flowers on every nook and corner of Bangalore. Even the pricing is reasonable depending on the variety and season. City Express brings a colourful account on the flourishing business of street florists in the city.Today it has proliferated to such proportions that one can find them near signal junctions, petrol bunks, close to schools, colleges and also near wedding halls. Their business is basically small time with people buying flowers in small quantities. Speaking about his business, Madhu K, a street florist near Madhavan Park in Jayanagar 3rd Block, said, “Daily sales does not exceed ` 300. We earn our income from decorating party halls for occasions like birthday parties, naming ceremonies and marriages.”Many florists say that the main reason for the skyrocketing prices of exotic flowers is the changing preferences of people. They like to purchase exotic flowers over traditional ones. Speaking about the demand for the flower in the recent times, Ambika Murthy, owner of Shristi Florists in Gandhi Bazaar, said, “Earlier in the neighbouring states of Andhra, Kerala and Tamil Nadu, there was not much demand for flowers like roses, carnations and gerbera, as they used traditional flowers like jasmine and firecraker flowers for decorations. But today flower merchants from these states purchase roses, carnations and gerbera in bulk, leaving us with nothing.” She added, “There is also great demand for bouquets in the city. As the competition is higher, we cannot afford to sell the bouquets at a higher cost.”On the other hand, there are many florist organisations in the city like Ferns and Petals, Tiliya, Max Florists and others who provide their services through e-commerce, online shopping etc. They buy flowers in bulk from farmers around the city directly or from the wholesale city market. These florists, beside selling flowers, also sell soft toys, jewellery, deodorants and chocolates to make the gift unique and attract customers to their outlets across the country. Prakash Jhunjhunwala, proprietor of Ferns N Petals said, “Over 75 per cent of our sales is mostly from roses. Our aim is to provide quality products to the customers for an affordable price.”When asked if the business has dipped down due to the burgeoning street florists in the city, he added, “Every business has its own segment. We do not see any sort of competition from the street florists. We have standard customers, who according to us will never want to purchase anything from outside.”But it is a well known fact that the demand for fresh flowers in the city will never dip and will have its own intrinsic value as impromptu gift items.
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