New York City shops busy with last-minute preparations for Valentine's Day
NEW YORK -- Many flower and chocolate shops spent Tuesday preparing for what the majority say is the busiest day of the year for them -- Valentine's Day -- and customers were also out securing their last-minute gifts.
The countdown to Valentine's Day is on.
At Roni-Sue's Chocolates on the Lower East Side, Tuesday's storm kept folks from walking through the doors, but owner Rhonda Kave says the calls for orders have been nonstop.
"Valentine's Day is the single busiest day of the year for us, always," she said.
Kave was hard at work prepping for the Wednesday rush solo, thanks to the snow day.
"Unfortunately, both of my assistants are parents of young children, and the mayor declared an at-home Zoom day for school and that's becoming a little bit of a nightmare," she said.
Over at Flowers by Richard on 53rd Street, an assembly line of employees prepped hundreds of orders.
The National Retail Federation estimates Americans will spend $2.6 billion on Valentine's Day flowers and, of course, the most popular pick, red roses.
"We're up to like 300 dozen roses already, yeah. Today, without tomorrow," Richard Sonnick said.
The most popular pick at Foliage Garden in the Flower District -- their orchid bouquet. Employees say their orders will be ready to go on time despite a nasty start to the morning.
"Taking a lot of calls to make sure and reassure our clients that yes, they're still going out," Wayne Anderson said.
The big debate over at Seasons A Floral Design Studio in Hell's Kitchen -- what's actually considered last minute for Valentine's Day shopping?
"We're actually celebrating today, so it's a little bit more last minute for me than it would be for other people," customer George Pandya said.
"I think that the people that are buying today are smart. Tomorrow is going to be chaos," said Gerald Palumbo Daniel Munoz, with Seasons A Floral Design Studio.