While many local businesses are struggling to stay open in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, florists appear to be flourishing. Though customers may not be able to walk into a shop and smell the roses, a bouquet is a call or click away.
Penny Taylor, the owner of Blossom Shops, was sure it was just a matter of time before she went out of business after COVID-19 restrictions were put in place.
She laid off all but three of her employees.
"Two weeks in, we were finding it was getting busier and busier, and we were getting exhausted," she said.
She hired them all back.
The business has five locations in Nova Scotia from Windsor to Lower Sackville. Employees are spread among them and able to practise physical distancing at work, Taylor said.
Most locations are doing online orders and curbside pickup, and Taylor said their online order traffic has almost doubled.
"We have not stopped since we brought everybody back," she said.
The province has experienced a mass shooting and the fatal crash of a military helicopter involving Nova Scotians in recent weeks. Taylor said those events have prompted orders from outside the province as people show support.
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