Since the start of the health crisis caused by Covid-19, 2,000 florists have closed their shop permanently.
And the weak recovery in activity on the side of conferences, seminars and hotel attendance raises fears of a much heavier balance sheet for the end of the year.
We talk about it less than hotels, cafes and restaurants, but florists are also suffering the consequences of Covid-19.
According to figures from the inter-professional organization of plants that Europe 1 was able to consult, 2,000 florists have definitely lowered their curtains since the start of the health crisis, in other words one in seven florists in France.
First there was the hammering of the compulsory closure of their store from the start of confinement with a stock of flowers that they had bought and that they had to throw away, which weighed down their already structurally fragile cash flow. .
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Deconfinement was not enough to revive activity
In June, the French resumed offering flowers, but that was not enough, because at the same time, a large part of their activity remained at a standstill: "there is no there was a burial as is usually done. There were no weddings either, and it is a big activity for florists. More generally, there were no business seminars in France. , of congresses. And for the florists who are in the big cities, there were no foreign tourists, usual customers of the big hotels and therefore no flowers in the hotels because they were closed ", details Mickaël Mercier , the president of the vegetable industry, at the microphone of Europe 1.
As for congresses, seminars and hotel attendance, activity is not really picking up, which raises fears of a much heavier balance sheet for the end of the year.