Love is in the air as Valentine’s Day approaches. It’s also the busiest time of year for some local shops, which are preparing for the big day.
“I love seeing the showroom full of flowers…that’s my favorite part, all the flowers and all the arrangements everywhere,” says Jenni Lemons, owner of Devault Floral.
Some may say the chocolate is their favorite part of Valentine’s Day, but for many women, it’s all about the flowers.
“The most traditional to send would be a dozen roses. We’ve tried to be a little bit more creative this year as to how they come. You can get them shorter or bigger, mixed colors, or even different vessels to put them in, but typically you’re going to get them in your standard gathering vase, a dozen red roses. It’s probably going to be the most traditional and ordered item,” says Lemons. “Some people are not flower people at all, so we have plants available too. We’ve got pretty orchids and bromeliads, which are fun for Valentine’s Day, because they’ve got the red and pink,” she adds.
This flower creativity fills the showroom as Devault Floral, which has their employees keeping busy this time of year.
“It’s a lot of hard work and labor intensive. It’s a high stress environment and time sensitive, but it’s good,” says Lemons. “On a regular good, busy day, we could get somewhere between 15 to 20 orders, and on a day like Valentine’s Day, we have more like 50 to 200 orders,” she claims.
It’s more than just the flower shops that are continuously working around the clock. Edible Arrangements is also a location that is very busy and has their phone ringing off the hook.
“Right now, we’re at capacity. We’re sitting at 96 orders for today. Between now and May is our busiest time of the year,” says Bailey Davenport with Edible Arrangements. “We have to order months in advance things like strawberry boxes, bears, balloons, tons of chocolate. We don’t want to run out of those things, like containers.”
And Friday seems to be a popular day for deliveries, mainly because Valentine’s Day falls on a weekend this year.
“Tomorrow is going to be a big delivery day for us since she is working. She wants to get them at work and show them off. She gets to be the one at work that gets flowers, so that’s going to a big day. Valentine’s Day is Sunday, but a lot of people are not working on Sunday, and that’s part of getting the flowers. The other part of it is the thought behind it and you wanted to get her something pretty, so you sent flowers, but a lot of it is the excitement of getting something at work or at school,” Lemons says. “Tomorrow is going to be a lot bigger than Sunday. Sunday is going to be super last minute and there will be limited product then. Don’t wait until Sunday,” Lemon adds.
Deliveries for both companies will take place through the entire weekend, beginning early in the morning.
