Valentine's Day: A day of love, chocolates, candies and adorably cheesy cards that show someone how much you care. But for flower stores, it's a week of complete insanity.
"We have by far more flowers, more orders and more deliveries than on any other holiday," said marketing manager at The Flower Store, Sydnee Cleveland.
The storage room at The Flower Store is packed with rows and rows of red, white and pink flowers, the most prominent one seen: roses.
Ginger Turvis, the marketing manager at Blooming Colors, said roses are also their most popular order.
"Roses are definitely one of the biggest sellers, and then probably mixed cut flowers and poppies," Turvis said.
In order for a store like this to manage such a hectic time, Turvis said her employees are the key.
"We've got a great crew that sets up special areas of high volume so people can shop and look at still arrangements at the same time," Turvis said.
Cleveland said managing Valentine's Day sales requires months of preparation and is comparative to firefighting.
"It's non-stop intense for an entire week for me, like putting on a million hats and putting out a million fires," Cleveland said.
Cleveland and the rest of the staff at The Flower Store have to change their regular routine slightly in order to manage all of the incoming orders. They assign delivery drivers to specific routes and bring in more part-time employees, according to Cleveland
Adam Perkins, senior in supply chain management, has been working at The Flower Store for three years.
"It is really hectic during this time, because I had three tests this week but I also had work some nights until 10 p.m." Perkins said.
Although Perkins said he is busy, he loves what he does.
"It's a fantastic job, they work really well with my schedule and even though Valentine's Day is busy, I'm appreciative of the business," Perkins said.
At the end of the day, after the flowers have been sorted and arranged, Cleveland said she is able to reflect on the positive side of Valentine's day.
"This is the most beautiful time of the year to work here," Cleveland said. "It's fun to see love spread to everyone: girlfriends, boyfriends, husbands, wives, new love and old love."
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