Florists in northwest Germany and the north of Groningen and Friesland are at a loss due to the upcoming closure of the Royal FloraHolland flower auction in Eelde. As a result, they risk spending many extra hours in the car to purchase flowers, which has consequences for prices.
“This is a huge problem,” says Martin Kleen of Blumenhof Brookmerland in Marienhafe, about 25 kilometers north of Emden, Germany. “Every Monday and Thursday I go to the auction in Eelde and buy my flowers there. That is about a 125 kilometer drive. In total, it takes me about three and a half hours at best. If Eelde disappears, I will have to drive to the auction in Ede. That is almost three hundred kilometers away. That means I will be on the road for seven hours.”
It is a bitter pill for the German flower trader and several florists in that region, including the Kleen family. The flower family has been traveling back and forth since the auction opened in 1977. First father Kleen, since 2019 his son.
Every Monday and Thursday he leaves early in the morning for North Drenthe for fresh flowers. A place where you can check the quality of the flowers yourself before bidding. A place where you always find colleagues.
“You don’t drive to Ede twice a week, like I do to Eelde,” says Kleen. The alternative is to buy flowers and plants in Hamburg or Bremen. “But that is with wholesalers and it is much more expensive. The costs will therefore rise and make it less interesting for me. Then the only option left is online purchasing.”
It’s not just Kleen who feels the closure. An uncertain time is also approaching for Janette Postma of Bloembinderij Acanthus. She has been running a sole proprietorship in Leeuwarden for 27 years. This means that on Monday mornings, when the shop is closed, she always takes the bus to Eelde to buy flowers.
“I also bought flowers on Wednesday evenings for years at a wholesaler in Sneek, but it closed five years ago. Since then, I have been driving back and forth to Eelde on Thursdays before opening time.”
She does not buy at the auction there, but from wholesalers. “We have to wait and see how that will go. You have to find your way again.” In any case, the flowers she buys in Eelde must come from Westland in the future.
That means extra costs and a more expensive bouquet of flowers. “It’s not easy for the flower trade. It’s not always fun.”
“Royal FloraHolland always had the central function in Eelde for florists in the North,” says Frits Jilderda, who has three flower shops in Friesland and a wholesaler in Damwoude.
“Closing is a problem for many smaller florists. Over the past six months I have heard of many florists closing down. That is a sign on the wall. Closing Royal FloraHolland will accelerate this.”
It is not a very big problem for Jilderda itself. “We have of course seen the closure of Royal FloraHolland coming for some time. We still get thirty percent of our turnover from here, the rest comes from Aalsmeer, Rijnsburg and Naaldwijk. We can easily scale up.”
But that does mean extra costs. Costs that are passed on to the florists and supermarkets to which the wholesaler supplies. “That’s about ten percent.
Postma understands that flower shop owners are concerned. “We are often a bit panicky about changes. But we just have to wait and see.”
Martin Kleen has focused his hopes on a so-called transport hub from carrier Faber Transport. Flower traders could then buy their flowers via the internet in Westland and have them delivered to Eelde. “That would help enormously. Then we will have a central point where we can go to pick up flowers.”
Jilderda also sees this as a solution. “But transport costs will therefore be higher for florists.”