Valentine’s Day — What We’ve Learned (And Why It Still Matters)

 

Here’s a look behind the scenes at what Valentine’s really means in the floristry world, and what we’ve learned along the way.

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The Rose Question — How Many Is Enough?

Every year, the same questions return:

• How many red roses should we buy, what length and what grade.  To give you an idea it's in excess of 3000!  And we also go for the very best available.  Cheap, thin and small roses are ten a penny in the supermarkets and petrol stations - A proper florist represents something much better than that.

• It’s easy to think Valentine’s is “just roses”. In reality, it’s about getting our bouquets just right in numbers and pricing.  If we sell out too early, we spend Valentines Day apologising, but too many and we lose sales!

We now treat Valentine’s with the same structured review we use for Mother’s Day and Christmas — recording notes about what went well and what didn't - and using this information in future years, and in over 35 years at Grand Flowers we have learnt a thing or two!

 

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Words Matter

Valentine’s isn’t just about stems, it's also about what goes in the card.

We’ve helped customers find the right tone — romantic, funny, understated, poetic. Sometimes the hardest part for them isn’t choosing the bouquet, it’s choosing the sentence.

And yes — we still handwrite messages - the personal touch matters.

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Logistics, Lessons & Late Surges

Valentine’s seems to have a rhythm:  there are the early planners (usually online), the considered buyers (in the shop a few days before) and then the 'on the day' buyers!

Each behaves differently - and we cater for all!

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Not Just Red Roses

Interestingly, every year a percentage of customers choose something completely different.

Blush tones, Wild and country textures, Spring flowers and plants - and one of our most popular is our famous 'Lush' bouquet (because not every love story is red!)

And that’s where being an independent florist matters — we create something personal rather than formulaic that you'd find in supermarkets.

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Why It Still Matters

For all the spreadsheets and stem counts, Valentine’s Day still has magic.

The nervous young lad buying his first bouquet.
The husband who hasn’t missed a year in 30 years.
The partner who says “No flowers this year”… but secretly hopes otherwise.

Flowers do something words can’t quite manage alone.

And for us, Valentine’s is a reminder of why floristry still matters in a world of next-day parcels and algorithms; it’s personal, tactile and real.  And we’re already quietly planning next year.

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If you chose Grand Flowers this Valentine’s — thank you, we really appreciate your support.  Our whole team works their socks off to ensure our customers are happy, and keep coming back.  And here's a quick shout out to thank the team for all the work they do - it's long, long hours, early mornings and late nights - but it's worth it!  They are all real professionals!

And if you forgot this year — don't worry, we’ll be here for you next year!