The question for him is also whether he will be able to have flowers at the last auction in Eelde. That is scheduled for June 30 next year. “The intention is to auction my product here until the very end. But that also depends on the pricing and the buying public that is still there. If there are no more buyers, then it will end sooner for me.”
Florist Pim Boer from Het Miniatuurtje has been driving from Noordscheschut to Eelde to buy flowers for 25 years. Although he is sad that the auction is disappearing, his company will not get into trouble. “We already do some of our shopping digitally anyway.” According to him, many had already taken into account that it would one day be ready for Eelde.
“I’m going to miss it,” says Bernhardus Annen from BenFleuri in Hoogeveen. He regularly bought at the auction ‘on the clock’, but now he has to look for another place to buy. “Of course it always works, but it all becomes a bit more cumbersome.” It is important to him that the flowers are as fresh as possible and the auction was good for that. “And the game is just fun, you try to get your trade for a good price.”
Compared to other auctions, the one in Eelde was small, but that was an advantage, according to Annen: “You know everyone. There you heard all the news and certain information, for example if a breeder had a new variety. Due to digitalization you had already lost that, but for me it was still a party twice a week.”