‘We are surviving,’ says florist as new Government measures bite

On Thursday morning, Marta O'Kelly was in her flower shop Floral Art in Knocklyon, Dublin, packing and cleaning up.

In light of the latest Covid-19 restrictions, the florist has decided to operate out of just one of her three premises.

Having opened six years ago, Ms O’Kelly said the past 10 months have been “the most challenging” she has ever experienced, particularly in light of the new Government measures.

Non-essential retail premises were ordered to close on New Year’s Eve but were permitted to offer click and collect or delivery services.

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However, the Government announced on Wednesday that, in a bid to reduce movement and travel as much as possible, click and collect services could no longer be offered by non-essential retail.

About 40 per cent of Floral Art's sale at Knocklyon in recent weeks have been click and collect, and now they will have to move solely online. The sales in the other two branches - Churchtown and Greystones - have predominantly been online.

“We are in Knocklyon shopping centre here so there is more footfall. We will see how it goes. At the moment we are happy to keep going online but we will wait and see after the review on when we can open again,” Ms O’Kelly said.

“We are sad to see it go but unfortunately, there is nothing we can do. Everybody is in the same boat. We already see it is much quieter today. The shop, the area where we are working in Knocklyon is really, really quiet. Everybody is staying at home.”

She added: “It does affect us, it affects everybody. But we are happy to go with the flow and keep the guidelines.”

Ms O’Kelly said the business changed in response to Covid. Customers rang into the store and placed their order and then later arrived to pick up their purchase. Since that option has been removed, she said she is grateful for the website.

“We are lucky we can operate online because we have a very good website so we can do that. During the first lockdown, our online was a lot busier than it is now. We hope it will pick up from next week now that there is no more click and collect. So hopefully the online orders will go up,” she explained.

In light of this, Ms O’Kelly remains optimistic about the future, despite the challenges that lie ahead.

“We are not breaking the bank, but we are keeping on top of everything. We are not making huge money but we’re not losing money. We are surviving and that is what we want. We want to be able to pay the bills, pay the wages and survive.”

Duncan Graham, managing director of Retail Excellence, said while he understood the need for advanced restrictions, it was yet another setback for the industry. “ We feel this move, however well-intentioned to restrict people’s movement, will have a disproportionately negative effect on smaller retailers.”