Garden centres are more essential than off-licences during lockdown

[Fev11]

Supermarkets already sell alcohol so why on earth are off licences listed as ‘essential’ during lockdown?

Plants and flowers, whether growing in a garden or on a windowsill or balcony have long been recognised as beneficial to mental health. Unlike off-licences, Garden centres could easily be adapted to be fully outdoor spaces.

My heart goes out to the growers who are having to throw out all their stock, who unlike many businesses who will still have their stock to sell when this is all over.

I think garden centres/nurseries are more essential during lockdown than off licences.

AIBU?

I’m probably going to get outed here as I’ve been saying and posting a lot of this stuff to friends and acquaintances over the last few days but I just can’t stay away from this thread.

My family (although not me directly) are in the garden centre/horticulture business. I can’t speak for a whole industry but I can give the experiences of a centre very close to me along with friends and colleagues in similarly sized centres and nurseries.

Garden centres do not fall under the essential retail list outlined by the government, therefore our centre and most others have closed. Most staff are furloughed with a skeleton staff still working to maintain plants for as long as possible so that we can reopen and start trading again. It is devastating to have to furlough staff, many of whom are friends, and devastating to have to consider the destruction of plants. There seems to be an opinion, not so much here but certainly on twitter, that garden centre staff are gleefully destroying living plants and don’t give a fig. All GC staff that I know of (ok, maybe not so much the teenagers employed at the tills at weekends) are passionate about plants and are doing everything possible to avoid being in this position. Moreover, this is their/our livelihood. It’s not about just watering the plants more to keep them alive; the fact of the matter is that some plants are seasonable and will die off regardless. Nurseries and growers are in a terrible position – we can’t buy from them as the stock isn’t going anywhere but we need them to stay in business, as well as ensuring we keep existing stocks of hardier plants alive to ensure that we can come back – re-employ staff, provide a service for customers and keep a roof over our heads.

So what are the options:

1. We re-open but with strict controls. This is out of our hands, we can’t make the decision and need the government to decide this for us. Even if we do though, it’s not going to be as simple as this. We will need a hell of a lot of staff to keep this kind of operation going – we need someone to control the queue outside plus lots of people to cover a considerable area to ensure that people stick to the spacing rules (they won’t) and that Doris isn’t sitting on the garden furniture, picking up a photoframe for a look, rifling through the bedding plants to find the best looking options, touching everything as she goes. It was suggested upthread that we just cordon off the furniture and other areas. Lovely idea in theory but you underestimate the determination of a child or pensioner to get into a forbidden area, plus I’m not sure what we use as a barrier. Funnily enough, we’re not usually in the business of restricting access to areas of our shop so don’t have fences, barriers, ropes etc to hand and can’t exactly buy these now. So we could use some of our existing fixtures and fittings but then we’re back to the issue of Doris trying to touch as she goes past, even if she knows she can’t buy just now… Or we could have staff stationed at the plants to ensure that they are handing these out and the public don’t touch, with or without this, we are talking a lot of staff who will be taken off furlough but with only a fraction of the shops income coming in (no gifts, café etc), how do we pay them? I’m not saying it’s a complete no-go but in order to do this, we need a lot of logistical thought and cannot take an immediate decision.
2. We sell online/by phone and do delivery/collection only. Lots of folk seem to think this is the obvious solution and can’t understand why many GCs aren’t doing this – apparently we only have ourselves to blame if we go under because we’re not willing to do it. Again, we can’t turn our hand to this overnight. Some GCs were already set up this way but most are not. Until this situation, there has not been a market for it. People want to go to GCs and choose things for themselves. So my family’s shop doesn’t have an online shop on its website and we don’t have the tech and the knowhow to suddenly create this – but we’re working on it. Until recently we didn’t have the technology to take payments over the phone but we managed to get this in place just before the lockdown. This allowed us to trial a delivery service which was a complete fucking disaster. Remember wee Doris, who wants to sit on the garden furniture? Well, Doris also doesn’t understand why the big strapping lad insists on setting her compost on her doorstep. Oh yes, it was explained to her several times on the phone but she was sure that when the driver turned up, he would understand that she can’t possibly lift the compost herself and needs him to bring it through her house, into her garden. Doris’ mates were equally disgruntled about the plants that turned up – apparently they weren’t exactly what they had in mind. Anyway, due to the commotion in the news this week, were about to try again but will be restricting purchases to compost, seeds, edible plants and tools.
3. Individuals or neighbourhoods pay a subscription fee and get a pot lock box of plants delivered kerbside. How do our staff know what kind of soil you have, how much light/shade get into your garden etc. This would generate a load of complaints and requests for refunds. Hang around a GC sometime (if we still exist once this is over) and you’ll see and hear the amount of expert advice given by staff for the seemingly easiest of purchases.

All the above also have one other factor in common. To do any of this, we need staff and this involves putting employees at risk. Asking them to leave their homes and come to work. The message my family are getting from their employees are that they don’t want to. They won’t feel safe. We have a small team willing to give delivery another try but it is with reluctance and a huge number of safeguarding caveats. But they are willing to try it in order to retain goodwill with customers and hopefully keep the shop and their jobs safe after all of this.

I get it. It’s utterly heartbreaking to be in the situation when people want plants and gardening supplies and, we have these but can’t sell them, and nurseries and growers have even more and can’t sell to us. GCs and growers do not want to let plants perish when there is a market out there and we would normally be the first to promote gardening for mental and physical wellbeing, both of which are so important right now, and above all, I’m terrified of our livelihood disappearing, but there is no easy way of linking up this supply chain in the current situation and people have to be safe.

I saw on the news they were facing ruin and asking the government for a bailout, surely they can just move to online retail? Do nursery plants survive delivery?

Not as easy as "just" moving to online if the facilities aren't there to begin with.

*Why can’t they keep their plants alive for six weeks?

Guessing that you don't garden.

1. Perennials (plants that come back year after year) often have a "planting season" that is the right time to put the bulbs or seeds in the ground. Once that's over, they are no good until the following year and may not live until then.

2. Annuals (that's plants that only live for one year) are useless once they've stopped flowering.*

Thank you!! I've been following versions of this discussion on various platforms for weeks and you are the first person to actually grasp this.

If you’d been watching the news up until lockdown and saw what was going on in mainland Europe you could have made a guess that we may be heading that way and bought what you needed in advance. I went to the garden centre before lockdown and there were many people there clearly thinking the same as me buying seeds and soil etc.

It's not always a case of not being prepared. The UK is a vast and varied place for such a small island. A PP made the point upthread but I can't find it now that they did try to buy things in advance but the plants weren't yet available. This has been our problem in the north of the UK, there are no tomato plants and very few other edibles yet. These would normally come within the next 6 weeks but while on lockdown , we can't get them from the growers. Which is why we want to find a way of trading safely and this is currently not looking very possible.

I really hope they do open again. They could do the traffic light system where different number plates can go out in different days of the week? I imagine that the govt will have to implement something like this in the future anyway.

You can't buy annual bedding plants in advance.

1. They are annuals and the plants would only have been tiny seedlings when all this kicked off.

1. You can't plant them out until risk of frost has passed. So they stay in the nursery/garden centre's giant greenhouse until the correct season arrives.

I don't think off licenses are essential when there are supermarkets about but then they're often small businesses that would otherwise go under. I absolutely agree re gardening.

You can't buy annual bedding plants in advance.

Unless it's from a supplier already set up to produce 'plug plants' and you have somewhere frost-free to grow them on. (I don't)

People hang about longer in garden centres. Some off licences also sell a small selection of food.

People might stay longer in garden centres bit it’s outside, not in an enclosed space.

GenericPlantBasedUsername

Good luck. I really do wish you well being able to operate online.

One of our local, biggish garden centres, family businesses is having a go at doing online orders for over £30.

The guy basically put a video on FB, and a catalogue of his stock he was trying to shift.

I totally agree, OP. What a waste.

@Blackbear19

Thank you. I have suggested the video or just basic photos of stock to be posted on the fb page but they aren't keen as it doesn't look professional. Personally I think professionalism is irrelevant at this time and that most folk will appreciate and connect more with the personal touch but it's hard. I'm not directly involved in the business but can't escape it in family life, plus I stand to be affected if it goes under. The current plan is a list of products on the website and facebook, phone orders and payments and deliveries twice per week (can only rely on one person to do deliveries as can't have multiple folk hopping in and out the van). Fingers crossed it will work this time as people will be more aware of the rules re deliveries and non-contact and this should keep us ticking over to a point where we can re-start business with our suppliers and re-open without too much wastage.

I agree with you Generic. Bugger professionalism, if someone would sell me plants, I’d bite their hand off.

Don't agree with the comparison- think both should stay open.

Lots of us enjoy good wine/dink as a treat especially in these current anxiety and stress ridden times. No need to pass judgment on those who do enjoy a drink -perhaps more often than usually at the moment not surprisingly- as some here have done.

But it's very sad to think of all these beautiful plants potentially perishing.

Along with all other events this summer, the RHS have had to cancel their flower shows including Chelsea. A whole host of specialist growers are now left with a tonne of top quality plants they were growing for the shows.

You can buy these superb plants from these nurseries online:

www.rhs.org.uk/shows-events/support-our-nurseries

I'm in lockdown in another country and garden centers are seen as essential here. But many more people grow their own veg.

Sorry but I'm going to say what everyone has said
Corner shops are off licenses, which obviously sell food and drink as well as top up gas and electric. So if these were to be closed then this could cause issues for people. (And technically a supermarket is an off license because it has a license to sell alcohol for consumption off the premises...)

Off licenses that sell ONLY alcohol are actually very few and far between.

GenericPlantBasedUsername
We ordered some pots, soil and plants over the phone yesterday and a man with a van turned up with our our order today. They asked for cash payment (in an envelope) and left everything on the doorstep - no contact. We took a chance with the plants but they're excellent quality. We've now just got to keep them alive until the danger of frosts have passed but we were pleased to support a local business and pleased that we spotted their advert ( they used Instagram).

It’s utterly heartbreaking to be in the situation when people want plants and gardening supplies and, we have these but can’t sell them, and nurseries and growers have even more and can’t sell to us.

Agreed. I wish I thought the government had some plan to protect small businesses.

DH came home last night utterly broken. All day he had people driving up the the garden centre to complain and scream abuse at him for destroying plants that they want to buy. He tried to explain that not a single plant has been destroyed in their centre - before the lockdown some perishable stock was sold off at knockdown prices, lots of ornamental mothers day displays were donated to the local hospice and community gardens and they are just trying to keep the rest alive and hopefully offer a delivery service soon. One bloke tried to physically attack him to get into the shop (so apart from the assault that's a strangers potentially contaminated hands on him) and another tried to ram raid the fences with his car. Lovely stuff. So now, on top of all the other worries about keeping the business and our livelihood, we have to worry about the place being destroyed in the night too.

The two employees who are licensed to drive the van have categorically said that they do not want to go out with deliveries and will not feel safe so we're probably not now going to go ahead with the delivery service as staff health and wellbeing comes ahead of anything else.

Two other GCs that we know in the area had been doing delivery and have pulled it as of last night. One told us that his driver's safety was continually compromised by members of the public. The other had their driver pulled over by police and ordered to stop the deliveries as this is not an essential service and "against the law". Not sure about that one, I mean I'm not seeing the police pull over Amazon vans?

We would give anything to be able to safely sell plants and gardening supplies at this time but unfortunately this just isn't looking possible.

DH came home last night utterly broken. All day he had people driving up the the garden centre to complain and scream abuse at him for destroying plants that they want to buy. He tried to explain that not a single plant has been destroyed in their centre - before the lockdown some perishable stock was sold off at knockdown prices, lots of ornamental mothers day displays were donated to the local hospice and community gardens and they are just trying to keep the rest alive and hopefully offer a delivery service soon. One bloke tried to physically attack him to get into the shop (so apart from the assault that's a strangers potentially contaminated hands on him) and another tried to ram raid the fences with his car. Lovely stuff. So now, on top of all the other worries about keeping the business and our livelihood, we have to worry about the place being destroyed in the night too.

I'm really sorry to hear that. Is this in London?

What does your DH do? Isn't the garden centre locked up?

No. I don't want to be specific about location as I think I've already given away a lot of identifying info but we're in the north.

sorry to hear this Plant