Retailers hoping ‘love is recession-proof’
St Valentine’s day has got the hearts of retailers beating faster.
But its strictly business for Island stores and florists, who are gearing up for a sales boost as the Island wears its heart on its sleeve.
And tradition plays a big part, with traditional tokens like cards, chocolates and red roses topping the lovers’ lists, although novelty items are also popular.
Carmen Phillips, owner of Demco florists in Devonshire and the new Demco to Go shop in Hamilton’s Church Street, said: “One thing I learned when I entered this industry is that St Valentine’s is recession-proof — love is recession-proof.”
She added: “It’s the one day when you can truly show love in a traditional way and nobody wants to be left out of that.”
Ms Phillips said the store had nearly 4,000 roses on hand to meet demand — compared to the 200 or so ordered in a normal week.
She added: “Roses are still the most popular choice — what we offer is either traditional or alternatives like orchids, lilies and mixed flowers.
“And we’re all working extra hours. We do 16 hour days leading up to St Valentine’s. Last year, we here all night the night before. The staff basically didn’t leave for two days.”
Ms Phillips said preparations for one of the biggest days in florists’ calendars began last October — and moved up a gear as early as the new year.
And a single red rose starts at $12 and moves upwards depending on the package, while those with pockets as deep as their romantic streak can fork out $533 for three dozen red roses in a vase.
Ms Phillips said: “We also do 20 dozen roses in a vase — and we’ve done 100 roses in a vase before.”
She added that her shops are also braced to expect a flood of last minute buyers — mostly men.
Ms Phillips said: “Men are very prone to last-minute buying and we don’t want to disappoint anyone, although it can throw our game plan out a bit.”
Nikki Begg, owner and creative director at Petals on Queen Street, Hamilton, added that roses still dominated — although the firm’s use of rare and unusual flowers had built up a following and that flower stocks had more than doubled in the run-up to Friday.
Ms Begg said: “It’s absolutely the biggest day of the year — Bermuda is filled with romantics.
“People who love flowers will always make room in their budget for them.
“Red roses are always highly popular, but Petals has worked very hard to create a certain aesthetic and we’ve cultivated an incredible following of people who love the way we design flowers. Our designers’ choices and red roses are very close together. Pink roses are also much admired.”
She added: “From a business perspective, what we try to do is start concentrating on St Valentine’s Day around Christmas.”
And she explained that meant the firm could negotiate the best deal with suppliers from around the world well in advance of the big day.
Nicole Warren, general manager of Brown & Co, which is part of the Phoenix group of stores, said the firm had also prepared well in advance for St Valentine’s.
She added plush teddy bears — including hi-tech singing versions — were a hit this year, while cards and chocolates remained huge sellers.
Ms Warren said: “It’s a few percentage points up on what we would normally buy. It’s one of the bigger days behind Christmas, It’s not as big as Mother’s Day, but one of the standout dates and important to our annual sales.”
She added: “It’s about love — what we find is people buy a small gift and a card — it accommodates for not having a new car. It’s also very traditional, so why break with tradition?”
The patron saint of lovers has a history stretching back to the third century — and among the places that claim the remains of St Valentine is the tough Gorbals area of Glasgow.
The Scottish city suburb’s St Francis’ Catholic Church was home to relics of the saint — a few bones — from 1868 to 1999, when they were put on display in their brass-bound wooden box at the nearby Blessed John Duns Scotus Church.
St Valentine is said to have been martyred in the third century in Rome.
But it’s unclear which of two St Valentines killed in the city on the same day is the real patron saint of lovers — or whether it was the same man with two slightly different stories attached. And other churches also claim a piece of the saint — including a church in Terni, where one of the St Valentines was bishop, which has bones said to be of the saint encased in a silver statue.
His precise links with romance are unclear, but it appears he was martyred on a day when Romans celebrated the start of Spring and when birds were believed to start mating.
