A safe, socially-distanced Valentine’s rush

Just like the week of Valentine’s Day every year, the line ran outside the door Wednesday afternoon at The Flower Company on Lampkin Street in Starkville.

Flowers have always been a prominent part of Valentine’s Day, and this year is no different aside from everyone wearing a mask in line and only 10 people being allowed into the store at a time. Because of the need to stay socially distant, people are buying flowers more than ever before, owner Whitney Wofford said, as a way to express love to their friends and family they might not have seen in a while.

“Because of COVID-19, I think that it (the floral industry) is going to be bigger because people aren’t getting out as much,” Wofford said.

Visiting loved ones and going on dates might not be possible for some people this Valentine’s Day, but buying flowers is an easy way to spread love, Wofford said. Many floral companies have had to adjust due to the pandemic but are still operating while finding ways to stay safe.

“COVID-19 has made it a bigger holiday, but it’s also hard to figure out how to keep people safe,” Wofford said.

Scott Reed, owner of Petal Pushers in West Point, said when Valentine’s Day falls on a weekend, people typically do not buy flowers as much as they do if the holiday were to fall on a weekday, but he has an increase in orders this year compared to Sunday Valentine’s Days in the past.

Reed said he and his team have still been able to deliver flowers to their customers.

“Delivery looks different,” Reed said. “We a lot of times will leave the flowers on their front porch and give them a call when we drop them off.”

Friday was the busiest day for delivery, Reed said, but his team will be out delivering today as well.

The pandemic also has affected growing season for flowers this year. Many flowers, such as lilies and Gerber daisies, had shortages. Floral shops have also had problems with delivery companies distributing the flowers on time.

“We’re missing 400 roses at the moment,” said Wofford on Wednesday, hopeful that these traditional Valentine’s Day flowers would show up by today.

While nothing says love like the red rose, Reed said, customers have been buying many different types of flowers for this Valentine’s season.

“Even though the red rose is the traditional Valentine’s flower, we sell a lot of mixed arrangements because our team here just does a great job with those,” he said.

One Petal Pusher customer has a specific order for his wife every year, Reed said. This customer likes to keep his message to her a secret so that the love letter between the two is just for them.

“He doesn’t want us to know what the card says,” Reed said, “so he reads it out to us in French and spells it out word for word. We really have no clue what it says, but we do know that it’s for his wife.”

Many floral shops have been preparing for Valentine’s Day for months. Some even started on Feb. 15 of last year. Reed said they look at sales records and product popularity to determine the expected merchandise for the following year.

“It’s such a big holiday and such a big part of our business, that you really have to plan for it. We work on it all year,” Reed said.

Reed said that Valentine’s Day could not happen at Petal Pushers without his staff and their hard work. During the busiest time of the year for florists, loyal and dedicated employees are essential in creating a successful holiday.

“I’m thankful for a fantastic team I have here,” Reed said. “You really could not do the volume you do for one holiday in a short amount of time without a great team. We couldn’t make as many people happy on Valentine’s Day as we do without a great team and a great community that supports us.”

The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.