Frosty weather that hit Athens on and near Valentine's Day kept flower sales at some Athens shops from blossoming this year.
Jim Sands, owner of Athens Flower Shop Inc. on East State Street and a member of Athens City Council, said a shipment of flowers failed to arrive Wednesday because of the weather, leaving no red roses for purchase by afternoon walk-in customers. Sands said he used all the red roses he had to complete previously placed orders.
Dee Neal, owner of Jack Neal Floral, 12 W. Union St., said an expected morning delivery of roses did not arrive until the afternoon, forcing her to ask customers to come back later in the day.
At some stores, the deep freeze brought a decrease in sales.
At Kroger's on East State Street, Valentine's sales were off about 20 percent because of the weather
but people were buying still and will probably be buying all weekend general manager Dave Shaw said Friday.
Brianna Hess, the gifts specialist at Fruth Pharmacy, 8972 United Lane, said sales there were down about 30 percent Wednesday.
We didn't have as many walk-in orders or deliveries because people weren't sure if we would deliver she said. People just didn't want to have to leave.
Fruth also lost many of the deliveries it typically makes to local schools because those schools were closed, she said.
Darlene's Flowers, 70 N. Plains Road in The Plains, also lost its usual chunk of Valentine's deliveries to schools, as well as some of its walk-in customers, because of the weather, said manager Kim Jacobs.
Store owners said they were able to complete all of their Valentine's deliveries, though drivers were being extra cautious.
Surprisingly enough
it wasn't a big disaster like I thought it would be
said Neal. We thought it was going to be hard getting out the deliveries.
Employees at Hyacinth Bean, 94 Columbus Road, stopped taking delivery orders for anywhere outside of Athens after 4 p.m. because the weather was getting bad again, said owner Polly Creech.
Athens Flower Shop's Sands said some of his deliveries had to be made Thursday because the recipients were not home early Wednesday and drivers were unable to make return trips because the weather took a snowy turn Wednesday evening.
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Andrea Golby
