GIY-ers sowing the seeds of recovery
When Green Party leader Eamon Ryan proposed at the beginning of the Covid-19 crisis that hardware stores should remain open so that people could grow food on their ‘south-facing windowsills’, the reaction was, to put it kindly, mixed.
Sceptics ranged from mild eye-rollers to the outraged. But his Dáil rallying call “We’ll have our salads ready to go!” has struck a chord with the wider public who have turned to ‘growing their own’ to beat the lockdown boredom, and fears for food scarcity down the line.
And two well-known Galway retailers have had to adjust the way they operate to comply with social distancing restrictions while meeting the increase in demand.
Bill Madden Nursery in Oranmore, the country’s oldest nursery, is taking orders over the phone and free delivery; and McD’s in Loughrea transformed into an online-only business within a few days.
Both have been flat-out sating the spike in demand for gardening products.
“Online accounted for less than 5% of our gardening trade up until about three weeks ago, and now it’s 100%,” explained Kevin Breslin, head of digital with McD’s.
Nationwide, there have been reports of gardening centres having to temporarily ‘pull’ their websites, because the demand for seeds and garden products has soared.
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