Couples rushing to place last-minute Valentine’s Day deliveries aren’t the only ones sweating the pressure of the holiday.
Florists are also scrambling on the big day to deal with the influx of flower orders.
Polly Creech, owner and manager at Hyacinth Bean Florist, 540 W. Union St., said she began preparation for the holiday in December.
“A normal day would be like 10 deliveries (of flowers),” Creech said. “Valentine’s Day is like 100 deliveries.”
Creech and other florists in Athens County find Valentine’s Day one of their busiest days of the year, often more than doubling their stock to meet the demand.
At Hyancinth Bean Florist, Creech said her floral shop increases the stock of roses from 200 to 2,000 roses to prepare for the holiday.
Likewise, many florists schedule additional staff members to fulfill the increased number of orders they receive.
Jim Sands, manager and owner at Athens Flower Shop, 252 E. State St., said he increases his staff to deal with the surge of orders. On a typical day, the shop runs on one delivery person and one designer. On Valentine’s Day, up to five drivers and four designers will work on orders.
“I would say we have at least 200 deliveries on that day,” Sands said. “A couple hundred is a pretty big deal for us.”
Sands said a typical Valentine’s Day stock at the shop is quadrupled, consisting of about 1,000 roses, 800 carnations and 150 of other types of flowers including tulips and irises.
“It’s quite an overload,” Sands said. “Finding places to put all of it is difficult.”
Dave Shull, manager of Kroger’s floral department, said the only holiday that is a close competitor to Valentine’s Day is Mother’s Day.
“We sell a lot of flowers Mother’s Day and other holidays,” Shull said. “But nothing rivals the one day of business you do on Valentine’s Day.”
On a typical Valentine’s Day, the number of flowers sold is equal to what would be sold in an entire non-holiday month, Shull said.
This year, Sands expects his shop to sell even more than in past years. So far, his daily sales are above what they were in 2010, which was the shop’s peak year in sales.
“It looks like we’re going to be up a little bit,” Sands said. “Not thousands of dollars, but a few hundred.”
Creech said she also expects this year to be more lucrative for her shop than in past years because the holiday falls on a weekday.
When the holiday falls on a weekend, couples tend to favor dinner and a movie over flowers, Creech said. A weekday holiday means men will be sending flowers to the workplaces of their significant others.
To deal with this year’s busy holiday, Sands said his strategy lay in putting in the extra hours leading up to Valentine’s Day.
“It’s something that requires a lot of work before and obviously on the day,” Sands said. “It’s sometimes difficult, but we’ve always done it, so we’ll knock on wood and hope we do it again this year.”
sg409809@ohiou.edu
