{"id":11460,"date":"2025-06-24T18:54:09","date_gmt":"2025-06-24T18:54:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/11460\/"},"modified":"2025-06-24T18:54:09","modified_gmt":"2025-06-24T18:54:09","slug":"street-corner-flower-sellers-are-staying-home-its-a-disaster-for-las-wholesale-flower-market","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/11460\/","title":{"rendered":"Street corner flower sellers are staying home. It\u2019s a disaster for LA\u2019s wholesale flower market"},"content":{"rendered":"

More for families.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re enjoying this article, you\u2019ll love LAist\u2019s early childhood newsletter. Every two weeks, you\u2019ll receive top reads and resources on issues affecting families with kids ages 0\u20135. <\/p>\n

Normally, L.A.\u2019s flower market is bustling with people speeding down sidewalks and indoor aisles with armfuls of flowers. But on Monday, there was plenty of elbow room.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The flower market is eerily empty <\/p>\n

(<\/p>\n

Adolfo Guzman-Lopez<\/p>\n

\/<\/p>\n

LAist<\/p>\n

)<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s Monday, today’s the day where a lot of florists come to get their flowers and as you can tell, it’s kind of dead,\u201d said Evelin Esparza, standing in her shop on 8th and San Pedro streets, surrounded by sunflowers, pink roses and white gladioli. <\/p>\n

She began running Armenta Bee Flowers with her husband three years ago.<\/p>\n

\"Female<\/p>\n

Evelin Esparza runs Armenta Bee Flowers with her husband in L.A.’s wholesale flower district.<\/p>\n

(<\/p>\n

Adolfo Guzman-Lopez\/LAist<\/p>\n

)<\/p>\n

The wholesale flower district is a multi-block zone where storefronts large and small face the streets and even more businesses operate in stalls inside malls inside.<\/p>\n

Many of them are owned and run by Spanish speaking immigrants and many of their employees are also Latin American immigrants, some without proper documentation to remain in the U.S.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Vendors at L.A.’s wholesale flower district say the sidewalks would normally be bustling on a Monday. <\/p>\n

(<\/p>\n

Adolfo Guzman-Lopez\/LAist<\/p>\n

)<\/p>\n

As soon as the first raid hit \u2026 I’m in charge of our social media, I had to tell my followers and my customers, that [immigration agents] were here and they were present.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u2014 Evelin Esparza, co-owner of Armenta Bee Flowers<\/p>\n

Esparza said when immigration agents suddenly arrived in the area last week, it caused chaos. The owner of her mall closed the street-facing steel curtain to keep agents from coming in.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs soon as the first [immigration] raid hit\u2026 I’m in charge of our social media and my parents are immigrants, I had to tell my followers and my people who are my customers, that [immigration agents] were here and they were present,\u201d Esparza said.<\/p>\n

\" A<\/p>\n

Vendors in L.A.’s wholesale flower district cater to a range of events. <\/p>\n

(<\/p>\n

Adolfo Guzman-Lopez\/LAist<\/p>\n

)<\/p>\n

For many store owners like Esparza, it had been a busy May, with graduations, Mother\u2019s Day and other events.<\/p>\n

But since the raids, business has dropped by 60%, she said. One big reason: street corner flower sellers, mostly immigrants, who sell roses and bouquets at traffic stops are staying away.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey appear small, but those buyers are a big part of this business,\u201d said Silvia Lozano, manager at My Floral Factory.<\/p>\n

One client, Lozano said, would stop by each week to buy 1,000 bunches of 25 roses each. The client would then employ about a dozen people to distribute and sell those flowers, including family members.<\/p>\n

Sometimes [customers] call and say, \u2018Hey, how is it out there, is it still kind of rough up there?\u2019 No, it’s not [I say] but they\u2019re scared.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u2014 Robert Rojas, owner of flower shop in L.A.’s flower district<\/p>\n

Lozano said only about 20% of those people are still showing up to buy flowers. But the raids have also deterred her other customers, U.S. citizens who run small and large flower-related businesses.<\/p>\n

Fear, founded and unfounded<\/p>\n

So far, no other immigration agents have turned up at the market. But the fear of their presence is having a powerful effect. Robert Rojas, owner of The Vinny\u2019s Company, said his regular customers have been checking in. <\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes they call and say, \u2018Hey, how is it out there, is it still kind of rough up there?\u2019 No, it’s not [I say], but they\u2019re scared,\u201d Rojas said.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Robert Rojas said he’s had to buy fewer flowers from South American purveyors since immigration raids caused business to decline.<\/p>\n

(<\/p>\n

Adolfo Guzman-Lopez\/LAist<\/p>\n

)<\/p>\n

Some wonder if such pervasive fear is warranted. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think there’s a lot of hype, so it’s scaring people,\u201d said Annette Yonemitsu, who was at the mall on Monday to buy flowers for her shop, Century City Flower Market. <\/p>\n

She said amplification of the raids on social media is partly to blame for people staying away from the flower district.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was here when the helicopters were around \u2014 everybody’s like, \u2018They’re coming in.\u2019 Nobody came in,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

How long can they hang on?<\/p>\n

Vendors said they were already paying more for flowers after the Trump administration announced tariffs earlier this year. The vast majority of their flowers arrive by plane from Colombia and other South American countries a few days after being picked, and the announcement of tariffs had caused prices to rise.<\/p>\n

The recent drop in business due to the raids is adding to that pain, with some wondering how long they can stay afloat.<\/p>\n

One owner, who would not give his name, said his 10 foot by 30 foot stall costs $4,000 in monthly rent. He estimated that he can stay afloat for only two to three months at the current level of sales.<\/p>\n

Others pay a lot more.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u200aI can’t wait. I got a lot of overhead. I gotta pay bills, rent,\u201d Rojas said. <\/p>\n

Rent for his shop and the adjacent store run by his brother is $14,000 a month, he said.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s also another aspect of the current atmosphere: people are having fewer get-togethers, which means lower demand for flowers for all occasions, from funerals wreaths to wedding arrangements.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are Latinos and we love to have parties, but people aren\u2019t having as many parties as they used to,\u201d Lozano said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"More for families. If you\u2019re enjoying this article, you\u2019ll love LAist\u2019s early childhood newsletter. Every two weeks, you\u2019ll…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":11461,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5123],"tags":[1582,276,12322,409,2961,224,5337,12323,12324],"class_list":{"0":"post-11460","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-california","10":"tag-flowers","11":"tag-immigration","12":"tag-la","13":"tag-los-angeles","14":"tag-losangeles","15":"tag-street-vendors","16":"tag-wholesale-flower-district"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114739863251227722","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11460","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11460"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11460\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11461"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11460"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11460"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11460"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}