Where florists buy their flowers (2024)

FAQs

Where do most florists get their flowers? ›

Florists can purchase flowers from wholesalers like BFS, who offer a wide range of fresh cut flowers and floral supplies. Some florists also prefer to source their flowers directly from floral growers, while others prefer to buy from local flower markets.

Where do the wholesale flowers come from? We buy flowers from the finest growers worldwide, including Central America, South America, Europe, and the United States.

Today, Colombia is the dominant producer of U.S. cut flowers, with roses, carnations, spray chrysanthemums and Alstroemeria among its top crops. Ecuador takes a close second.

Mellano & Company is one of the largest wholesale flower distributors in the nation, supplying retail florists and supermarkets with high quality cut flowers, greens, fillers, and protea.

The simple answer to "Is it cheaper to buy flowers from a wholesaler?" is "yes." Of course, it's cheaper to purchase flowers from the same places florists purchase their flowers.

A florist is someone whose job involves arranging and selling cut flowers.

Most flower shop owners don't want to share how much money they are making each year, but I am happy to share what I made in my flower shop annually. My business revenue was right around $500k and my profit was usually around $85k after all my bills, expenses, and payroll (including myself) were taken out.

Basic Structure of the Floral Industry

Here, distributors are in direct contact with growers for prospective buyers of flowers. Wholesalers purchase flowers in large quantities from these distributors. Next, retailers purchase flowers in small quantities from a wholesaler or sometimes directly from a distributor.

Supermarkets buy in bulk, literally thousands and thousands of flowers, which are packaged and distributed to all of their stores. Because they buy in such huge quantities, they pay far less, hence they can afford to sell them at far cheaper prices.

Where are most fresh flowers imported from? ›

Of the many countries supplying flowers and other nursery stock, Colombia made up the largest import value at $1.2 billion. From 2018 to 2022, Colombia provided about 37 percent of U.S. cut flower and nursery stock value.

Grocery VS Florist Bought: The Basics

Often times their flowers are bought at a discount and not given much of a go over. This is not to say that you can't buy decent flowers at a grocery store, but when it comes to sourcing flowers grocery stores are more likely to think about saving money first before quality.

Far at the top of the list and best known for their tulips, the Netherlands dominated the flower bouquet export industry in 2021. The small European nation exported $5.7 billion worth of bouquets in 2021, accounting for over half of global flower bouquet trade.

Climate and Location

Domestically, 75 percent of cut flowers are grown in California, with a small percentage produced in Washington, Florida, Hawaii and other states, according to AboutFlowers.com. Significant numbers of cut flowers are imported, particularly from Colombia and Ecuador.

Flowers are grown in many countries and, due to their perishability, must be rapidly transported by air often to far-flung destinations. The Netherlands largely dominates this industry; more than 60% of the international trade in cut flowers is conducted from there, much of it at the flower auctions.

In 2022, the top importers of Cut Flowers were United States ($2.48B), Germany ($1.27B), Netherlands ($907M), United Kingdom ($797M), and France ($462M).