A ‘fast and furious’ holiday
Palazzo 1837 Ristorante owner Matt Sager checks the reservation book to see how many spots are still open for the Valentine’s Day dinner.
Palazzo 1837 Ristorante and other local eateries are booking up fast for Valentine’s Day. Florists and candy shops also are gearing up for an influx of orders.
Floral designer Janet Bowman of The Perfect Arrangement, 694 E. High St., Waynesburg, puts together a vase of roses in preparation for Valentine’s Day.
Floral designer Janet Bowman of The Perfect Arrangement, 694 E. High St., Waynesburg, puts together a vase of roses in preparation for Valentine’s Day.
Valentine’s Day is where the heart is. The mind is a different matter, especially a guy’s mind.
“I don’t care how much notice they get, men will wait till Friday and Saturday to order this year,” said Betty Hartman, owner of Hartman Flower & Gift Shoppe in Burgettstown. “A lot of them will be going to work and hear on the radio that Valentine’s Day is near. It’s ‘Oh my goodness, I have to buy something.'”
“Men often procrastinate and wait until the last day or two to buy for a loved one,” said Norm Candelore, manager of retail operations for Sarris Candies.
Bob Lloyd, longtime owner of Washington Square Flower Shop in Washington, concedes that when it comes to Feb. 14, the male species is not as vigilant as it should be.
“If it’s a birthday, an anniversary or a death, women normally take charge and place most of the orders,” he said. “This is the only holiday that men actually order their own flowers. It’s a fast and furious two-day holiday for us.”
Love is in the air this time of year, and more prevalent than snowflakes. To ensure a memorable Valentine’s experience, florists, restaurateurs and candy makers across Washington and Greene counties advise consumers to take their recommendation to heart: Prepare. Act now. Don’t kiss things off until the last moment, particularly with V-Day hitting on a Saturday.
Yet, thousands – probably millions – will.
A number of people tend to take this red-letter day less seriously, derisively referring to it as a Hallmark holiday. In reality, it is more than that. It is a symbol of the power of love, even in the waning hours.
Providing a pleasurable Valentine’s experience for someone dear to you can come at a dear cost, according to the National Retail Federation’s Valentine’s Day Consumer Spending Survey.
This survey, conducted by Prosper Insights and Analytics, found that:
• An average celebrant will spend $142.31 on candy, flowers and such – up from $133.91 a year ago. Total spending is projected to hit $18.9 billion.
• More than half (53.2 percent) of those surveyed will purchase candy ($1.7 billion overall), with flower power the second-most-popular option (37.8 percent, total $2.1 billion).
• About one-third (35.1 percent) will pay for a special night out, including dinner and a movie ($3.6 billion).
• All that glitters is becoming golden, as 21.1 percent plan to spend $4.8 billion on jewelry – the highest total in the five-year-old survey.
• And, proving how much Americans love their pets: 21.2 percent said they will buy for their critters, spending $5.28 apiece, $703 million overall.
The federation also found that men, on average, shell out nearly twice as much for Valentine’s Day as women – $190.53 to $96.58. That shouldn’t be a surprise, although Sarris’ retail manager has detected a shift.
“This holiday isn’t always about the girl,” Candelore said. “We’re seeing a trend where more and more women are buying and more and more men are getting the treats.”
As with any calendar date, Valentine’s is on a different day each year. It was on a Friday in 2014 and, thanks to Leap Year, will be on Monday in 2016. Falling on a Saturday this month could result in a bonanza for some businesses.
Janet Bowman, manager of The Perfect Arrangement, anticipates a frantic holiday experience in her Waynesburg floral shop.
“This is probably our busiest day of the year,” she said. “Mother’s Day is probably second, and our other busy time is Christmas. Proms keep us busy, too.”
Roses, she said, are The Perfect Arrangement’s top Valentine’s seller. She initially orders 1,000 of all varieties, including tie-dyed.
“If we need more, we order more.”
The number of Valentine’s flowers sold at Washington Square increases “about tenfold” from average weeks, Lloyd said. He declined to give specific numbers, saying it was in the thousands.
A similar pizzazz is anticipated at Palazzo 1837 Ristorante, in the Shoppes at Quail Acres in North Strabane Township.
“Valentine’s Day is one of our busiest days, no matter what day of the week it is,” said Matt Sager, co-owner with wife Susanne.
Reservations are required at the 19th-century mansion turned Italian restaurant. But at this juncture, Matt Sager said last week, V-Day availability will likely be minimal. Staff will seat dinner guests from 3 to 9 p.m., and Sager expects about 200 customers overall.
The chef, he added, “will have some specialty items typically not on the menu” for the holiday, such as lobster bisque.
Capstone Grille, on the contrary, rarely takes reservations, opting for call-ahead seating. Valentine’s Day is one of those rare occasions, though – along with New Year’s, Mother’s Day and Father’s Day.
“We’ve been taking (Valentine’s reservations) since the week after New Year’s. People started asking for them then,” said Gia Leven, general manager of the Peters Township restaurant.
She anticipates “a nice crowd” Feb. 14, as well as the day before and afterward, when reservations will not be in force.
For the people at Sarris, a Canonsburg icon, V-Day is an especially sweet time.
“It’s a very busy candy holiday,” Candelore said, adding it is second only to Easter.
Sarris’ sales are not limited to the Adams Avenue site. The company markets its treats in a number of stores throughout the region and does “a big online business,” he said.
One favorite – chocolate-covered strawberries – is available only for V-Day and Mother’s Day.
For the staffs of the six businesses profiled here, Valentine’s Day is more than a one-day experience.
“The whole week, we’ll work longer hours, but the majority of our orders will come in Friday and Saturday,” Bowman said of her Waynesburg shop. “Probably on the 12th, 13th and 14th, we’re looking at 11- and 12-hour days.”
At Sarris, “it will be very hectic the day before and the day of the holiday,” Candelore said. “We’ll open at 9 a.m. on Valentine’s Day and people will start lining up outside at 8:30.”
Hartman, who accepts only cash or check payments at her Burgettstown shop, said “Valentine’s Day is very good for us” and very busy. But after 52 years, she doesn’t stress over it.
Neither does Lloyd, who has worked at Washington Square since his teens. He is accustomed to the V-Day crunch, which is why he hires “four or five extra drivers” for the holiday itself.
He prefers to get as many pre-holiday orders as possible, and get as many delivered by Valentine’s morning, so as to limit the chaos that day’s orders will inevitably create.
Valentine’s Day is, indeed, a fast and furious holiday – for virtually every business dealing with it.