Traditional red roses continue to be the most popular item on Valentine?s Day with late arriving customers seeking purchases to win favour from their loved ones.

Ian Page, manager of The Flower Shop on Reid Street, said he has already sold out completely of the consignment of red roses he brought in for Valentine?s and has stopped taking orders for this popular item. Only roses that have pre-sold will be be available.

?We have a strong local base and have a taken a lot of phone orders from corporate customers and today we will only be delivering to offices in Hamilton,? Mr. Page said.

Apart from red roses, he said The Flower Shop has other floral arrangements in various sizes to offer customers and said smaller arrangements this year have been popular and increasingly customers want bouquets that are unique.

?Customers are thinking outside the box and are getting creative with vibrant and dramatic colours as opposed to softer colours,? Mr. Page said.

?Valentine?s Day is the biggest floral day of the year, second only to Mother?s Day, it?s a day associated with roses and romance. Business is booming and every year our sales for roses go up,? Bling Bling Boutique owner John Casling said.

This is the seventh year Mr. Casling has been selling roses and he said he brought in about 25,000 stems and the majority of these roses have been pre-sold to customers he has had for the last six years but he expects there will be a lot of last minute customers particularly men buying roses.

?While the majority of our customers will be men, it is not uncommon for women to buy a dozen red roses for their partners,? Mr. Casling said.

House of Flowers owner Mary Jane Cabral said yesterday that while red roses have not sold out yet, the store is not taking any more orders and red roses will only be available on a first come, first served basis.

?We have a lot of customers who pre-ordered rose and we have lot of last minute customers but balloons, stuffed animals and teddy bears are also popular Valentines gifts.?

Designer Flowers owner Phyllis Pedro said: ?Sales this year for roses have been fantastic, we haven?t sold out but we expect to and sales of tulips, teddy bears and balloons have been very well.?

Demco Floral Services owner Lena Araujo said while red roses are in much demand, sales of roses in various colours are doing well and the store has been selling hundreds of basket arrangements, carnations, tropical flowers and other mixed arrangements.

?People don?t pre-order a lot, there has been a lot of walk-in traffic today and there have been lot of calls but I have a fantastic crew of staff and without them I could not cope with this non-stop business,? Ms Araujo said.

El Shaddai Florist has seen increased business in red roses and Just Roses have been so busy the store has had to bring extra staff and drivers to cope with demand.