Distancing and a holiday weekend make for long lines at garden centres

© John Mahoney Maria Guarneri, left, and Joy Goodman wear masks while shopping for plants at Pépinière Jasmin in St-Laurent on Saturday, May 16, 2020.

Add one more item to the list of things requiring consumers to line up as Montrealers cope with physical distancing and reduced store hours — plants.

The Victoria Day long weekend is traditionally the busiest time of the year for garden centres and there was a lineup to get into the parking lot at Jardin Jasmin in St-Laurent on Saturday.

The family-owned business was dealing with a double whammy. Crowds were bigger because stores are not open on Sunday and they had limited the number of carts allowed on the 11-acre site to 100 an hour.

"In the past, we've had as many as 300 carts on the site, but the important thing is to make sure our customers and employees are safe," said Pierre Jasmin. "Most of our customers are couples, so we count on two people to one cart. We have 80 people working this weekend. That's 10 more than normal and the extra employees are there to direct traffic and make sure everyone respects social distancing."

© John Mahoney Vanessa Brochu wears a mask while shopping for plants at Pépinière Jasmin in St-Laurent on Saturday, May 16, 2020.                                            

Jasmin said buying habits have changed.

"People are leaving with full carts because they're here and they want to get everything in one trip," he said. "The average purchase is higher than it's been in the past.

"For the past five years, we've seen people buying more vegetables, herbs and fruit trees but, this year, we've seen an explosion in those products," Jasmin said. "We've also see more sales of fountains and statuary which are things we normally sell later in the year. People are telling us: 'We're not going anywhere so we might as well splurge on something that will look nice in the garden.' "

© John Mahoney Cars line up along Henri-Bourassa Blvd. to get into Pépinière Jasmin in St-Laurent on Saturday May 16, 2020.

"We waited more than an hour, but we saved some time by parking on Henri-Bourassa and it was worth it," said one couple who were loading flats of annuals and several tomato plants into the back of a mini-van. "We were planning to shop last weekend, but we held off because of the frost warnings."

There was initially some uncertainty over when garden centres would open this year. Owners were pleasantly surprised when they were added to the list of essential businesses in mid-April .

Jardin Jasmin delayed its opening for a week after the announcement, taking the time to install hand-washing stations and devise a plan to control access to the store.

According to Québec Vert, the province's 440 garden centres generate $366 million in revenue.

phickey@postmedia.com

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