ADDING UP SWEET NOTHINGS
Smitten suitors may spend more to treat their Valentine this year
Bostonians looking for love might be bracing for sticker shock at their favorite flower shops and chocolatiers this Valentine’s Day, but local businesses say that despite inflation, their prices won’t break the bank.
A WalletHub survey of almost 200 people nationwide showed 46% of Americans believe their Valentine’s Day plans will be impacted due to inflation. Nearly a quarter of surveyed Americans said they do not expect their Valentine to spend any money on a gift this year.
Joe Bornstein, owner of Olympia Flower Store in Boston, said prices for flowers will always go up around the holidays due to the supply and demand, along with product being shipped in from outside of the United States. Despite the holiday price hike, people come in ready to spend the money to treat their special someone.
“People are willing to pay a bit more because of the holiday,” he told the Herald. “Everything just goes up, between the price of the flowers and the freight… everything comes out of the country pretty much these days.”
Jay Zagorsky, a Boston University associate professor of Markets, Public Policy and Law, said Columbia and Ecuador are the two main providers of roses for the U.S., which shipped in approximately 2.8B cut roses last year.
The cost of a dozen roses in a supermarket setting jumped from a little over $10 in 2011 and cost roughly two dollars more in 2023, according to USDA figures. Every link in the international supply chain, Zagorsky said, is more stressed around the holiday, and causes prices to jump even higher.
Bornstein said a major part of holiday sales, is the holiday itself. So long as they have the right flowers in stock, he said, a custom bouquet of flowers can be done that day, though the classic dozen red roses is usually the favorite.
Yianni Tsaousidis, owner of Stapleton Floral, said they anticipate having hundreds of in-store transactions on Wednesday. Tsaousidis said their deadline for a custom arrangement would be the day before due to the hectic atmosphere that the holiday brings.
Payroll increases and the overall price hike in costs of goods has impacted business, though sales numbers around the holiday have been on par with previous years. Certain holidays, like Valentine’s Day, bring consistent business to the store, he said.
“People don’t skip Mother’s Day and Valentine’s Day,” he said. “But the cost of goods has really gone up and it’s certainly getting tougher and tougher out there.”
Both Bornstein and Tsaousidis said their stores have been busy leading up to the holiday, a sentiment shared by Paula Barth, the owner of Beacon Hill Chocolates, and Maribel Cruz, a manager at Truffles Fine Confections located in Copley Place.
Cruz said business has improved significantly since the coronavirus-plagued 2020, but admitted inflation rates have been a noticeable factor in sales.
“It’s gotten better since COVID, but I will say that December was a little bit of a dip,” she said. “But we’re looking forward to a great holiday season.”
Despite also having an array of sweet selections for patrons to choose from, Barth said her customers have made it clear what they or their loved ones want every February.
“I always used to try and go off the beaten path and do something different for Valentine’s but over the years, they just want the red velvet hearts,” she said.
Barth said last year was a record year for sales and despite lower inflation rates this year, they will not match those numbers. Barth, who is approaching her 18th Valentine’s Day in business, said it is a trend that tends to happen in election years.
“I don’t know if that really equates with anything, but I’ve been doing this for a lot of years and it always seems we’re a bit off in an election year,” she said. “But we’re still very busy and I do see some hope even though we’re down from last year.”