For most of us, greenhouse owners and gardeners in particular, there’s no time of year like spring.
“We’re ready to open, and we will stay open now.”
That from Susan Richards, New North Greenhouses garden centre manager, speaking to SooToday Sunday after the provincial government, in an easing of COVID-19 restrictions, allowed greenhouses/nurseries, hardware stores and retail outlets (with curbside service) to reopen beginning this Mother’s Day weekend.
“We opened at nine o’clock Saturday. It was quite incredible to see. We had people lining up at the gate at 7:30 (at the New North Greenhouses entrance on Airport Road). As soon as we opened the gate there was a parade of cars coming in,” Richards said.
“People were very eager, so they started to line up, keeping that six-foot physical distance between each person (a COVID-19 restriction that remains in place). We were letting people in one shopping cart at a time. We rearranged here to get ready to open. We changed our aisles, we put in a one way traffic flow, we separated our cash stations.”
“When they said we couldn’t open for Mother's Day (when Ontario first imposed COVID-19 measures on the province’s economy) we continued with online sales and curbside pickup, and then all of a sudden they said we could open (Premier Doug Ford announcing Wednesday, May 6 that greenhouses and nurseries could open Friday, May 8), so that was a scramble,” Richards said.
“We couldn’t manage to get open for Friday but we opened Saturday. We had a very good day. Today’s been a little bit slower but traditionally on the Mother’s Day weekend Saturday is busier than Sunday.”
“This is a very large building," said Richards, speaking of the main greenhouse at New North), "so we’re letting in between 20 to 25 people. That’s working out well. We have a small perennial greenhouse so we determined four people is the maximum that can go into that greenhouse at one time, then out in the tree and shrub nursery it’s an open air area so there really isn’t a limit. We just have to make sure everybody stays six feet apart in that area.”
New North Greenhouses has flowers, vegetables, herbs, hanging baskets, planters, fertilizer, containers, soil and garden decor for sale.
The normal opening date for the business would have been in the third week of April. But, due to the provincial government’s COVID-19 lockdown, New North launched an online store with curbside pickup.
That has now stopped.
“We can’t manage both (online orders/curbside pickup and operating a conventional open store),” Richards said.
“It's a much nicer experience for people to come in here and choose their own plants.”
“It feels good to open, but it’s a little bit unnerving because there are precautions in place. We’re certainly more cautious this year. I’ve found it much more stressful than I ever have before. We don’t know how it’s going to go, will people still come in when they know they have to stay so far apart? But, it’s working out pretty well so far,” Richards said.
With the uncharacteristically chilly weather our area is currently experiencing in this first week of May, New North Greenhouses will not be open for as many hours as usual (for now), Richards said.
“We’ll be open from 10 a.m. until 6 p.m. Monday to Friday this coming week, Saturday we’ll be open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Victoria Day. Then we hope, as the weather warms, we can extend our hours until eight o’clock in the evening.”
“Plants are the new toilet paper,” Richards smiled, referring to the obsession shoppers had for that product when COVID-19 first hit.
“They thought they'd never get a roll again. People are thinking a little bit that way about plants, thinking because we were opening so late we wouldn’t have the plants, but that’s not true. We started growing in March on our normal schedule before things really started to hit, so we will have the same amount of plants, or more, than we had last year.”
“People shouldn’t get anxious if they come in and see we don’t have a certain type of plant on the tables. Don’t worry. We will have more, we are growing more plants. We will be refreshing our stock.”
“It’s wonderful to be able to get out,” smiled New North Greenhouses customer Ted Burmaster, the public’s shopping having been limited, until this weekend, to mainly grocery stores, pharmacies, lineups at Big Box stores and restaurant drive throughs and takeouts.
“We really enjoy flowers and it’s really nice to come out here.”
“He’s a better gardener than I am, but I love this. I’m in my element here,” chuckled Marilyn Schwindt-Burmaster, Burmaster's wife.
“It’s fabulous. It’s nice to be able to walk in and not to stand in a long line either. There was no lineup when we arrived here today, and we were given good instructions by the staff. Their place is just full of all their work and it’s just gorgeous and beautiful. It’s nice to have that freedom that we have known but haven’t been able to experience for a long period of time,” Schwindt-Burmaster said.
“It feels great. Everybody’s excited. Maybe everything, as it moves forth, will go back to normal,” said customer Laura Purvis.
“It’s amazing and it makes you anticipate more local businesses opening, and to support them," Purvis said.
