Yahoo Finance Aldi's $20 Valentine's Day roses cause outrage
Aldi Australia is selling a dozen roses for just $19.99 but the bargain buy has some shoppers riled up on social media.
The budget supermarket this week promoted the roses, which will go on sale Thursday – the day before Valentine's Day.
One concerned social media user's question started it all.
"Where are they grown? How long have they been cut by the time they reach the store?" asked the user.
"Longer cut - quicker dead. All cut flowers are already dying. Buy a rose bush instead. Or a bug house & a flowering plant!"
Some other shoppers pointed out the impracticality of growing your own roses – which are notoriously difficult to cultivate – and how Aldi’s flowers are high quality.
"I have purchased Aldi flowers before. They last forever and are very cheap: win win."
But it was Aldi's answer to the original question that really polarised shoppers.
"Hi Julia. They are grown in Kenya," said the official Aldi Facebook account.
A war of words ensued between those shoppers that were outraged that the roses were not domestically produced and Aldi fans who didn't think importing flowers were a big deal.
"Oh the shame," said one user, while another said: "So they are not Australian. I am sorry but I will not be purchasing any!"
The opposing camp pointed out that many flowers are imported, without the average shopper realising.
"I used to be a florist and these flowers tend to last longer than the Aussie grown roses and [have] larger buds – I rather think they are good value."
Another said that many people love telling everyone to "buy local" but when they see the prices they are put off.
"Everyone commenting buy Australian-grown roses but the prices are just ridiculously expensive on Valentine's Day. Is it fair that they [sell] at rip-off prices?" said the Facebook user.
"I'm sure everyone will go running wherever you get the cheapest roses or no choice as we will all be surrounded with expensive ones at shops around us."
Aldi's official account said it attempts to source products within Australia as much as possible.
"Aldi works with Australian growers to buy as much as possible of Australian grown product.
"We select the best value roses meeting its strict quality standards and for our amazing value 12-stem bunch this year we have used top grade roses from growers in Kenya."
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