FLOWERS and kalag-kalag Sales to pick up, prices to go up

Flower vendors at Freedom Park are expecting more customers starting on Oct. 29 onwards Nov. 2 as people celebrate All Souls’ and All Saints’ Days.
CDN PHOTO/JUNJIE MENDOZA

Vendors at Cebu City’s biggest flower market are expecting brisk sales days before the observance of All Saints’ Day on Nov. 1 and All Souls’ Day on Nov. 2, the period when people flock to cemeteries to pay respects to their deceased loved ones.

Bebe Arcayan, a flower shop owner at the Freedom Park in downtown Cebu City, said the sale of flowers for All Souls’ Day usually picks up on Oct. 29 and peaks on Oct. 31.

“Right now, there aren’t that many people buying yet. Our flowers from our suppliers also have not arrived yet,” she said in an interview with Cebu Daily News on Friday.

Arcayan said she sources her flowers from Barangay Busay in Cebu City as well as mountain villages in Baguio, Bohol, Cagayan de Oro and Davao.
As early as now, some are even going directly to suppliers in the mountain barangays to save on the cost of flowers, she said.

She said that by Sunday, prices of flowers at the market will most likely increase two – to threefold.

While that hasn’t happened yet, Kristel Leones, a 20-year-old university student from Samar, bought flowers from the Freedom Park hours before she sailed for her hometown.

“It’s cheaper here and you can also customize the flowers,” she said.

Alice Sabal, owner of stall no. 153, said there were many like Leones who bought flowers from her shop that day.

Most of them, she said, were set to travel back to their hometowns on the 29th and opted to save themselves from the hassle by visiting the Freedom Park early.

Among the flowers Sabal sells are golden yellows at P100 per dozen, asters at P100 per dozen, black roses at P100 per dozen and wonder whites at P80 per dozen.

Her flowers are sourced from the mountain barangays of Bonbon, Babag and Busay in Cebu City.

She said the prices of flowers may drop if huge supply was available, but that will not be the case this week.

“There is a possibility that it may increase since the supply will just be enough,” said Sabal.

Golden yellows, asters and black roses may soon cost P200 to P300 per dozen while wonder white prices will most likely increase to P160 to P240 per dozen.

Annabel Olanolan, owner of stall no. 81, said she expects buyers to flock her shop by Oct. 30, and that the prices will shoot up to three times compared to regular days.

Funeral flower baskets, for example, will cost P350 by that time from the usual P200, she said.

Aside from days leading up to the observance of All Saints’ and All Souls’ days, sales of flowers are also brisk during February in time for Valentine’s Day and the Holy Week.