From flowers to decor, stores gear up for Valentine’s Day
ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (KQTV) -- Stores around St. Joseph are shifting from one holiday to the next, as they make room for Valentine's Day.
According to Stacey Fisher, owner of Garden Gate Flowers, Valentine’s Day is considered the “Super Bowl” of the floral industry.
She explained that florists often debate which holiday is their biggest, with the title usually going back and forth between Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day.
"For us its definitely Valentine’s Day, so we start planning Valentine’s Day months in advance. We use flower wholesalers, and my pre-sale order I had were around Halloween and Thanksgiving,” Fisher said.
Fisher said the first step in preparation is deciding the overall look for the holiday. The team meets to choose color schemes, which then determines the types of flowers they order.
She emphasized that extensive planning happens behind the scenes to manage costs and to ensure customers are not overcharged.
"We try to make things look flawless, and we always try to do all the work behind the scenes so things for the customers look easy and simple because we don’t want people to stress out while buying flowers,” Fisher said.
As local Downtown stores continue to set up Valentine’s Day displays, some retailers, such as Hobby Lobby, already have decorations available for early shoppers.
Hobby Lobby Co-Manager Madelyn Helton said the store began putting out Valentine’s Day items about two weeks ago.
She noted that this year’s rush has been slower compared to last year, when customers were calling before Christmas to ask about Valentine’s merchandise.
“Corporate sends us our schedule for when we put things out, and then we just implement it. It does depend on the sales of the item, so depending on how quickly we sell the stuff, then we have room for setting the new stuff,” Helton said.
Helton said Valentine’s Day items will still be available for about two weeks after the holiday, though they won’t be displayed in the main seasonal section and may instead be found in clearance areas.
She reminded shoppers that Hobby Lobby is a seasonal store, which means items are stocked well in advance to give customers plenty of time to plan their gifts.
“It happened on Christmas, but we literally... we had people come in on Christmas Eve at 5:30, which was when we were closing to get Christmas stuff for the next day, so Valentine’s Day will be the exact same thing,” Helton added.
Helton encouraged customers to shop early, noting that popular items often sell out quickly.
Both Fisher and Helton agreed that while seasonal displays may seem simple, there is significant planning and responsibility behind the scenes to make the shopping experience smooth and enjoyable for customers.
