MCLENANN COUNTY, Texas (KXXV) — Egg prices aren't the only costs going up this year — with Valentine's Day right around the corner, you might be paying a little more for a gift for your special someone.
Local flower shops say bouquets have increased in price in the last five years.
- Local florists explain the price increase of flowers can be attributed to various factors including fire in California, COVID-19 and supply and demand issues
- On a normal day, Bloomingals will have between six and 15 deliveries a day, but around Valentine's Day, that number can increase to 100 to 150 a day
- A helium shortage has led to local flower shops to stop selling balloons
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
“Valentine’s traditionally is the biggest day of the year for us,” said said Head Designer at Bloomingals, Kimberley Seesing.
“Biggest day, sales day of the year for us — or actually the whole week,” said Baylor Flower's manager, Lauren Prather.
As thousands of people prepare to shower their loved ones with gifts this Valentine’s Day, flower shops are making arrangements.
But each year, small businesses like Bloomingals and Baylor Flowers continue to see an increase with wholesale prices of flowers.
“The cost is 40 percent, but we as a business can’t go up 40 percent — especially on one week of the year, so we sort of have to average that out," Prather said.
How does that affect how to buy a gift for that special someone?
“From five years ago to two years ago, to now — what has the difference in pricing been?” asked reporter, Dominique Leh.
“Five years ago, a dozen traditional, that's the taller traditional red roses, or any color roses, would have been $90, now they’re $125," Prather said.
"I think COVID definitely had a lot to do with that, When COVID happened those prices went up, and they really haven’t come back down since then."
That’s not the only thing increasing —
“We do not do balloons because the cost of helium went up so high,” Seesing said.
Lauren Prather says helium went from $150 a tank to $400 a tank.
“It’s just not worth it,” she said.
With costs rising everywhere, Seesing says shops have come up with alternatives to make Valentine’s Day easier on your wallet.
“We have to be more creative, just like doing a rose arrangement, instead of a dozen roses, doing a mixed bouquet with roses. Are offering a small box of chocolates instead of a huge box of chocolates that we can add in with an arrangement,” she said.
Now even though we might be seeing higher prices at these flower shops, it doesn’t deter people from buying.
Lauren Prather with Baylor Flowers says the week of Valetine’s Day in 2020 they had 653 orders, and this year on the first day of the week they’ve already hit almost 200 orders.
