Flowers insolita Blog

Why are florists’ roses so much more expensive than the roses sold in supermarkets, Costco, Fire-departments, or roadside vendors?

In Huntington supermarkets, we can buy two-dozen roses for $14.99; that’s 62 cents a stem. We (Flowers insolita), on the other hand, charge $48 for a dozen roses, gift-wrapped with fillers, greens, and bow. Now, that’s a whopping $4 a stem.

Although our roses come with fillers, greens, and a bow, $4 a stem is like >6-times more expensive than the price of supermarket roses. Who in the right mind would pay 6-times more for the “same thing”? Why are florists’ roses so expensive? We must be ripping you off!

Nope, I tell you, we are not. When was the last time you see any florist driving a Mercedes?

In this post, we will explain why there is such a disparity in price, honestly and accurately as usual.

Supermarket roses and florists’ roses are not the “same thing.” There are two main differences between the two: (1) quality and (2) labor involved in presentation. Today, we will explain the first part: difference in quality.

(1) Difference in quality between supermarket roses and florists’ roses

I went to a local supermarket today and bought what they called “Double Dozen Rose Bouquet” for $14.99 (62.5 cents a stem; see left, click to enlarge). To be fair to the supermarket, I picked up the best one I could find, although there were several other choices that looked much older than the one shown here. I wondered, though, whether any average consumer can recognize this difference (Hint: You need to gently squeeze the bloom; if it feels soft and squashy, it’s old.)

(a) Length: Anyway, the most obvious difference between supermarket roses and florists’ roses are in their lengths. Supermarket roses are 40-cm long (so-called “short-stem”), while florists’ roses are typically 60 cm or longer. That is, florists’ roses are approximately 8 inches longer than supermarket roses (see left; click to enlarge).

Long-stem roses are >50% more expensive than the corresponding short-stem roses in the importer-distributor market. Why do we use expensive long-stem roses? Because we need these long-stem roses for better presentation (we will talk more about presentation in Part II).

(2) Thorns: The second visible difference is in the thorns and leaves (see left, click to enlarge). Florists remove all the thorns and also take out about 2/3 - 3/4 of leaves from the bottom.

We do this processing, primarily because of the presentation work we do; roses with lots of left-over thorns are difficult to handle and also they could easiy damage other flowers. Leaves must not go under the water, because they would spoil it. Also, it is believed that the presence of many leaves may reduce the amount of water going into the flower, potentially causing premature wilting. Supermarkets don’t do any of these processing. A careful observer might even notice a rubber band holding the stems of supermarket roses; this rubber band was placed by the original grower of these roses in South America, meaning that nothing has happened since the rose stems were bunched.

(3) Bud size: Generally, long-stem roses have a bigger bloom than short-stem roses (see left, click to enlarge). Sometimes the difference can be quite dramatic.

Honestly, I don’t know the exact causes for this difference; but I suspect it has something to do with the different conditions under which rose growers grow long-stem roses and short-stem roses (differences in fertilizer, light, soil quality, etc).

(4) Longevity (vase life): With everything else equal, there is one big factor that varies from store to store and that critically affects how long your flowers will last: post-harvest treatment, especially the “Cool Chain” management.

Proper “Cool Chain” management means that highly perishable products such as flowers must be kept constantly at a low temperature (<35 F), from growers to consumers, to slow the natural process of tissue decay. Any break of “Cool Chain” at any point of distribution would result in shorter vase life of flowers.

Awareness of the impotance of “Cool Chain” is not really a difference between supermarkets and retail florists. In fact, as far as I can see, some supermakets seem to be doing a better job in managing “Cool Chain” than some florists. What I also see, however, is that in supermarket floral deparments, the flowers are often not refrigerated and don’t seem to be taken care of well. They don’t seem to care that much. But again, it depends on the store (and its employee).

You can tell the qualiy of “Cool Chain” management, or post-harvest care in general, simply by touching the “neck” of a rose. If the neck is soft and easily bendable, it means the flower is dehydrated, suggesting a long trip without water at a warmer temperature than it’s supposed to be. This kind of roses, even if they look OK, have already sustained tissue damage and will most likely wilt in a few days. Good-quality roses should have a hard, rigid neck.

How can you tell a quality retailer? Ask their opinion about “Cool chain management.” If the manager doesn’t even know what you are talking about, that’s usually not a good sign. Just insisting that “our flowers are fresh”, doesn’t make it so. We believe that florists need to demand the proper “Cool Chain” management from their distributors, not just glancing at how the received flowers “look”, in order to make sure the maximum vase-life of flowers to consumers.

In the next Part II, we will explain the labor involved in florists’ rose bouquet versus supermarket’s rose bunch. Stay tuned!