Flower stores in Bellingham finding workarounds ahead of busy Mother’s Day holiday

With the new coronavirus closing and restricting businesses across the country, flower shops are starting to feel the pressure in Bellingham.

Deemed essential businesses, shops across Whatcom County have stayed open, but many have closed their storefronts and are only conducting contact-less deliveries and curbside pickups.

One such store is A Lot of Flowers in Fairhaven, owned by Penny Ferguson. They have been conducting deliveries and curbside pickup, but customers can’t go inside and roam the store.

“It’s just me that’s been working not being able to be open to the public, so no one can come in the store,” Ferguson said. “We’re lucky that we can do floral delivery now, but a lot of the merchandise is just sitting. But we’re just happy to be able to do something.”

With Mother’s Day just around the corner, a massive holiday for flower shops nationwide, Ferguson will get some additional help around the store from her sisters.

“For Mother’s Day, we will be doing a few different things to kind of get through. There will be my sisters who work with me here,” Ferguson said. “At some point, we will all be working together, but we’ll have to try to social distance as much as we can and wear gloves and masks.”

At another store across town, A New Leaf Flower Shoppe, owner Trish Manley says she has been getting plenty of calls about flowers, even from people outside of Washington.

“A lot of people calling from out of state just wanting to send flowers for birthdays and anniversaries, just cause people need some color and some life in their lives,” Manley said.

Manley has been in the flower business for 40 years and, like A Lot of Flowers, she is also open for deliveries and pickup, and has even serviced some small weddings and funerals since the shelter-at-home order. She has also had to cut down on the number of people in the store, from four down to one or two.

“We’re in process of trying to figure it out for next week with Mother’s Day because it’s one of our busiest times,” Manley said. “I’ll have sort of all hands on deck as far as delivering, bringing in some extra help, good friends and neighbors that want to be of assistance. We’re just trying to keep everybody safe.”

This story was originally published May 4, 2020 at 5:00 AM.