NEWPORT NEWS, Va.— While some florists have run out of flowers, Jeff’s Flowers of Course in Newport News has a fridge full of them. Staff are practicing social distancing inside and outside when they make deliveries across the 757.
The store is taking contactless orders to the next level with a new drive-up tent just in time for Mother’s Day. Customers can look at several arrangements that are laid out on tables, decide on what they like and pay for their order without leaving their car.
For people who don’t want to make the drive, they are still doing contactless home deliveries.
“[Customers are] so happy when they call and they say, ‘Are you delivering?’ and we go, ‘Yes, no contact,’ says Jeffrey Kremp, President of Jeff’s Flowers of Course.
Delivery drivers ring the bell with gloves on, leave the arrangement in front of the recipient’s door and give them a call to make sure that they’re aware the flowers are outside.
The Newport News flower shop is working hard to keep up with the massive uptick in business brought on by coronavirus.
“We’re way above last year; yesterday’s sales were double what they were the year before,” says Kremp.
For many people, a beautiful bouquet is all they have to fill the void caused by social distancing.
Related: Floral shops providing more than flowers to the community during COVID-19 pandemic
“A woman called in; her mother has Alzheimer’s,” explained Kremp. “Every morning, she woke up and said, ‘Why doesn’t my daughter come to see me?’ We made a floral arrangement and a very long note from the daughter. Every morning she wakes up, she sees the flowers, she goes, "Oh, my daughter was here,’ and she reads the note."
Arrangements start at $40, but the only limit is your imagination when it comes to making a statement to the one who means the most.
