Downtown LA's California Flower Mall set for busy weekend as Mother's Day shoppers stream in
DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- Have you gotten Mom a gift yet? Time is running out.
The California Flower Mall in Downtown Los Angeles is ready for a busy weekend, as Mother's Day shoppers stream in.
Highland resident Courtney Cagle and her friend woke up early Friday morning to beat the crowds at the California Flower Mall in the heart of Downtown L.A.'s Flower District.
"So I'm gonna do 30 packs of the double dozens for roses and then I just buy extra mixed flowers to fill my arrangements," Cagle said.
She and her grandma will sell them this weekend for Mother's Day.
"We go by her house and people come up and I sell them with a vase, a bow, flower food," Cagle said.
But she's noticed that even since Valentine's Day, prices are up.
Mall owner Mark Chatoff says it's another sign of the times.
"Inflation, you can't avoid it," Chatoff said. "Logistics, labor, supply disruptions, just the cost of getting products here has become more expensive and it just trickles into the price of the product."
After all, most of these flowers come a long way from Columbia, Ecuador, Costa Rica and Mexico.
"They're all being basically flown up on jets here to Los Angeles as quickly as they can to get and to basically keep the supply chain full of products,"
Still, florists say the Flower District is the cheapest place to get them.
That's why Maria Ramirez drove here overnight from the Central Valley.
"We started driving at 12 a.m. today in the morning, so my husband drove over here with me," Ramirez said.
She says a dozen of roses up in Madera is around $40.
Here in the Flower District? Roses go for $12-20 a dozen, which is why this place is so popular.
"Come early. You have to be here -- we left at 3 a.m. to here," Cagle said. "The later you come, you just cannot walk in here. It's literally like we're packed like sardines."
The market will be open Saturday until the flowers sell out.
RELATED: 15 Mother's Day Gifts Under $50
If you can't get flowers? According to a recent survey, what moms want most in this world is a nap.
Time2play asked hundreds of moms all over the United States and what most of them really want is to take a break.
After a nap, the next most coveted gift is a meal they don't have to cook. They'd love to have breakfast or dinner with the family, as long as someone else is cooking.
Here in California, most moms said they'd just like some help with the chores.
