‘Green plants are very trendy at the moment’
Who and what is Kwiaty&Miut?
‘My partner Radoslaw and I have had this shop for over three years now. We sell flowers and plants, furniture, decoration items, gifts and fabrics. The largest part of our turnover comes from weddings, funerals and business clients. We also distinguish ourselves from the rest with our very own style: purely natural compositions with wildflowers.’
Are you very busy at the moment?
‘The wedding season is in full swing now and goes from June to the end of September. Weddings are major here and the location is all-dressed up. We have less customers in the shop now, because the summer holidays haven’t ended yet.’
What are your bestsellers at the moment?
‘When it comes to flowers, it’s the dahlia, garden rose and delphinium. And for plants, we sell a lot of musa, succulents and pilea peperomioids, so a lot of greens. They’re all trendy again now.’
Where do you purchase?
‘I purchase at wholesalers’ at the flower market in Poznan and from a Dutch web shop. About 70% of the things we sell here comes from the Netherlands. The rest comes from Polish growers. In the summer period, customers ask a lot for local products such as the dahlia, roses, alstroemeria, aster and bedding plants. The quality of the Dutch flowers is very disappointing in this period, while the prices are a lot higher than they usually are. When the assortment and the volumes for the local producers would be larger, I would certainly buy more in our own country.’
What could be improved?
‘I would appreciate it when the boxes would indicate when the flowers had been harvested. They seem to be hanging around somewhere in the chain, and that’s a pity, because we’d pay a big price for something that ‘would be expired’. Furthermore, the exporters – or the growers themselves when the orders are direct – could decrease their commission to promising markets with a low income. This could lead to an increase of the demand for their products. But it’s not all bad though. We and our customers are very happy to have all-year access to a big assortment via the Dutch production and trade centre!’
Have you published a book?
‘We sure did. An inspirational and information book about flowers and plants. The website shows what we’ve made: http://ustamagazyn.pl/2016/03/premiera-o-kwiatach/.”
About Kwiaty&Miut
Location: Poznan
Assortment: 70% flowers, 20% plants, 10% other
Specialty: weddings and funerals
Staff: 5
Lukasz Marcinkowski (left) and Radoslaw Berent: „When the assortment and the volumes for the local producers would be larger, we would certainly buy more in our own country.”
