High flower prices affecting shops, customers this Valentine's Day
San Francisco flower shops are looking forward to Valentine's Day, but high prices could have an impact on sales this year.
Ladan Shamskhou is the owner of Le Bouquet, a local flower shop. She took over the family business 12 years ago. She said, this year, the costs she and her customers pay for flowers are the highest they have seen.
"It never goes down; it always goes up," said Shamskhou. "Ever since COVID, flowers have been just more and more expensive. A lot of farmers shut down. A lot of wholesalers have shut down."
Consumers are expected to spend an average of $185 on Valentine's Day. That's $8 more than the average spending over the last five years, according to the National Retail Federation.
"Wholesalers have to work so much harder and have so much overtime," said Shamskhou. "So it brings the costs of a single stem up by like anywhere from like a dollar to $5 more than usual."
Customers like Meg Martin said despite the increase she is still finding the joy in holiday shopping, all while keeping the price of what she spends in mind.
"The flowers aren't marked in there, but it does seem pricy for a small bouquet. So this was $30; the flowers are beautiful though," said Martin.
