How can 99p shop/Poundland sell named roses so cheap?

southerly

I bought 2 named variety of roses in 99p shop yesterday and have in the post from Poundland. I have never understood how they can be sold so cheaply, surely no-one could grow them tfor profit that cheaply, especially considering VAT & packaging cost comes out of the 99p?
Are they the reject ones from growers that are not good enough to be sent to other retailers to sell?

Also I sometimes see 'lost label' roses being offered for sale at a reduced price, I am always a bit cynical about this, are they really lost label or just the varieties that have not sold?

Lifeforms

Those kinds of shops basically buy vast bulk products at a dirt cheap price by those who are trying to shift fast, and also in the case of independent 99p stores, and likes of home bargains, end of ranges. Those from supermarkets that get sent back after a time, or from a distributor who has excess goods, maybe sometimes close to sell by date (months, rather than days though).

There was a random independent 99p shop(s) program on 4 i think it was that showed the owners buying bulk and over from Far East for pennies, to sell in their shops.

Then also other products, not named, but like the non-value, but cheaper branded, are rebranded in a random name the store uses. Compared to the likes of creamfields iirc.

Chances are the plants themselves have just come from a special order bulk, the un-labled ones probably came back as being un-sellable in proper garden stores/centres. I don't know if those types of things have storage instructions, and if so whether those instructions are kept too, therefore could affect the product?

sobie

Basically:

They are different grades of roses, based on:
1) age of plant.
2) most importantly number of branches.

The ones sold in the little bags by discounters are young cuttings (whereas a garden centre plant will be 3 or more years old) that do not have many branches. These are sometimes refered to as "Second" quality.

Its not worth the growers time, effort, space & money to grow these cuttings on any further, so they are lifted in autumn, then cold stored. The better ones will be sold in Autumn to the catalogue companies. Then at the very end of the season, whats left is bagged up and sold off cheap to the discounters.

They have to be sold quickly because once out of cold storage, they soon come out of dormancy and once they start shooting its much more difficult to estabilish on planting.

Take one of the 99p ones to your local garden centre & compare - the difference is obvious.

forgotmyname

Exactly its a quality thing. The same as the trees from cheap shops LIDL/ALDI/B&M etc..

They may or may not take when you plant them. They may not be as productive for several years. But £5 - £10.

When i bought a family apple and a pear tree for £40each, They actually produced a few fruits the 1st year, But was advised to pick them as soon as you spot them growing. Which we did.

The 2nd year it had a decent sized crop.

Expecting a lot this year, Depends how my pruning went...

pinkcandyflossprincess

be wary of the lilly plants if poundland gets any....mine were infested with lily bugs that invaded everything in garden:(

RAS

Also beware dead sticks - a lot of them in £land, 99p stores and £stretcher. A lot of the stuff I have seen will never grow.

Also watch out for things like potatoes and onion sets. FEEL the bags. Many of the onion sets in one store near me are just dry skeletons; plainly the onions should have been planted last year or the year before. Some of the "potatoes" were also last year's rejects, so shrivelled that mini-tubers the size of beads have developed in the bags. Avoid imports as a number of nasty diseases are present in Europe that do not affect Scottish seed potatoes.

If you are going to buy anything that claims to be a perennial or tuber in bags of peat, FEEL the roots and check for there is a live growing shoot before you buy. Much of the time all you are buying a a wee bit of peat and a dead root.

Have to say that the onion sets in Lidl looked fine but I would get them sooner rather than leave them to fester. Not so sure about the fruit trees, looked a bit dead to me.

pinkcandyflossprincess

omg yeah i got a hibiscious? twig...its still a twig 3 years on it a pot:eek: i reuse to admit i wasted a pound on that twig though:rotfl::o

sammyroser

Also these shops get customers coming in buying the carp that makes them their money by having loss leaders. These are products which either make them no money or a small loss to get customers in the store who then spend £10 on goods worth about 50p.