Florist Shop in Thomson: Far East Flora Wholesale Stems

Ten long-stemmed Kenyan red roses cost S$20.30 at Far East Flora Market, the wholesale flower hall at 557 Thomson Road, Singapore 298181, and it opens every day of the week. Monday to Thursday it runs from 8am to 8pm, Friday and Saturday until 9pm, and Sundays and public holidays from 9am to 7pm. For anyone typing florist shop near me around Caldecott or Novena, this is where you buy stems by the bundle rather than a finished bouquet.

Far East Flora tells its own origin plainly: it started in 1965 with three brothers, a small van, fresh flowers and eggs. Six decades on, the group runs two public flower market outlets under the Far East Orchid company, this one on Thomson Road and a flagship in Clementi. The site advertises more than 1,500 varieties at daily wholesale prices, sourced directly from farms and growers, which is why the Thomson hall feels more like a trade floor than a boutique.

The Clementi flagship, the Far East Flora Centre at 435 Clementi Road, is the bigger sister. The company describes it as eleven storeys of flowers, plants and lifestyle shops, with what it calls the island's largest wholesale cold room. Thomson Road is the more compact, neighbourhood version, and for people living in the north and centre of the island it saves the trip west. Both outlets keep the same wholesale pricing on the website.

Prices are listed per bundle, not per stem, and include GST. Rose Explorer Red from Kenya, roughly 60cm, comes as a bundle of ten stems for S$20.30. Italian peonies, in light pink, white or the Sarah Bernhardt variety, sell in bundles of five for S$33.60, and each stem is about 60cm long. Vietnamese Chrysanthemum Magnum, in white or yellow, is S$14.60 for ten stems of 70 to 80cm.

The showpiece on the price list is the Rose Tinted Rainbow from Ecuador, a rose dyed to a multi-coloured finish, at S$50.30 for ten. It is the one children point at, but an honest view is that the natural colours give better value: two bundles of Kenyan reds plus a bundle of chrysanthemums still come in under the price of one rainbow bundle, and they fill a lot more vases. Peonies are the splurge worth making: five Italian stems at S$33.60 open into a full vase within a couple of days.

The format rewards people who arrive with a plan. Buyers walk the aisles, pull bundles from the buckets and carry them to the counter, so it helps to know how many vases you are filling and roughly what colours you want. Anyone doing their own wedding or party flowers should work out stem counts at home first: five peony stems or ten roses per bundle means a twenty-vase table plan needs dozens of bundles, not a handful. Bring a large bag or a box; the market also sells its own Market Bag for S$12 as a purchase-with-purchase add-on.

If you would rather have someone choose for you, the Market Box is Far East Flora's weekly or fortnightly subscription of seasonal stems, curated by the team and delivered to your door. A single box costs S$38. It is not a finished arrangement: you still trim and arrange the flowers yourself, which is the point of buying at wholesale rather than retail. For a hand-tied bouquet, the group's FarEastFlora.com retail stores are the better stop.

Delivery runs Monday to Saturday only, with no deliveries on Sundays or public holidays. There are two slots: a morning window from 8am to noon, which must be ordered by 11am the day before, and an afternoon window from noon to 5pm, which must be ordered by 11am the same day. Orders placed after 11am roll to the next available slot. The standard fee is S$15 per order, and the site banner advertises delivery at S$10 with a minimum spend of S$100.

The shipping policy warns that fees can change during peak seasons such as Chinese New Year, Valentine's Day and Mother's Day, and those are also the weeks when the hall is busiest. For a festive order, walking in on a weekday morning is more reliable than gambling on a delivery slot.

Far East Flora Market runs workshops alongside its trade, and the programme leans professional. In July 2026 it hosted a two-day florist masterclass at The Flower Show led by the German master florist Samantha Wilhelm, covering trend forecasting for 2026 and 2027 and hands-on design. Most hands-on classes take place at the Clementi flagship, which has a dedicated workshop studio, so Thomson Road shoppers interested in learning should book a session there.

Caldecott MRT, on the Circle and Thomson-East Coast lines, is the nearest station, roughly 300 metres from the market in a straight line. Thomson Road is a busy arterial road, so cross at the signalled junctions rather than cutting across traffic with an armful of peonies. Drivers will find the surroundings are mostly low-rise residential estates, and buses along Thomson Road stop close to the outlet.

If you have time to spare, MacRitchie Reservoir Park lies to the south-west of Caldecott and is the obvious place for a walk before heading home with flowers, though a long hike with cut stems in a hot car is a bad idea. Buy last, walk first. On Sundays, remember the hall closes at 7pm, an hour or two earlier than on other days.

Address: 557 Thomson Road, Singapore 298181. Hours: Monday to Thursday 8am to 8pm, Friday and Saturday 8am to 9pm, Sundays and public holidays 9am to 7pm. Sample prices: Kenyan red roses S$20.30 for ten, Italian peonies S$33.60 for five, white or yellow chrysanthemums S$14.60 for ten. Delivery: S$15, Monday to Saturday only. Nearest MRT: Caldecott.