Valentine’s Day keeps florists busy
In a city filled with big industry, small businesses and 18,000 people going about their daily lives, local florists may have been the busiest people in El Dorado yesterday.
On Monday, the smell of fresh flowers filled the air at All About Flowers, where owner Rexayn Tribble and a handful of helpers, both seasonal and full- time, were hard at work preparing for Valentine’s Day.
“It is the busiest day of the year,” Tribble said. She declined to divulge how many orders were made ahead of the holiday, but said she planned to continue taking new orders at least until the afternoon on Tuesday.
At 8 a.m. yesterday, an extra nine delivery vans joined the shop’s usual fleet of one to make Valentine’s Day deliveries throughout Union County. Some of the drivers were recruited by the Union County Animal Protection Society, which was to receive a percentage of Valentine’s Day sales from All About Flowers.
Tribble said that in addition to the extra drivers, she hired 10 temporary workers to help with the Valentine’s rush.
For a florist, Valentine’s Day starts much earlier than Feb. 14. In Tribble’s case, she and the other workers at All About Flowers began preparation for the holiday on Saturday.
“We pre-make as much as we can so we can handle as many customers as possible,” Tribble said.
On Monday, the shop was full of activity as prepared arrangements were set out for pickup Tuesday morning, more arrangements were being made and shoppers searched the shelves for the right gift for their loved ones.
As Tribble attached delivery tags and cards to already-arranged bouquets, Taylor McElroy and Alexia Taylor put the finishing touches on other arrangements while Jonathan Palmer and Kurt Tribble, Rexayn’s husband, prepared arrangements to be loaded up for delivery on Tuesday.
The last deliveries were set to head out of the shop at 4 p.m. Tuesday.
“We’ll be going all day until we’re done,” she said.
According to Martha Stewart, the tradition of giving one’s significant other roses for Valentine’s Day stems from a Victorian practice that, much like ours today, involved sending flowers with love messages to potential matches.
Tribble said she thinks the temporary nature of flowers gives them significance.
“They don’t last forever; that’s romantic, significant — something about the fact that someone is willing to spend money on something that doesn’t last forever makes it special,” she said.
But flowers aren’t only for Valentine’s Day, she noted.
“People don’t send them often enough, so it makes a statement on that one day,” she said.
For florists, and the community as a whole, Valentine’s is a boon to the local economy. From date nights on the town to tokens of affection, the holiday is important, Tribble said.
“It’s a lot of fun, it boosts the economy — just me, I’m hiring 20 extra people, some for one day, 10 for the majority of a week,” she said.