Budget-friendly bouquets in high demand for Valentine's Day

The eve of Valentine's Day is always a mad rush for flower shops.

On Monday, Wild Lotus Floral Design staff in Barrie was busy preparing for hundreds of orders.

"We've prepped thousands of roses for tomorrow and today. It's very busy today, so we're prepping arrangements, we're prepping wrapped bouquets," says owner Julie Claire.

During the pandemic, Claire says getting enough product was an issue, but that wasn't the case this year.

"As opposed to the last couple of years, it's been a lot easier for us to get flowers in. There weren't any supply chain issues," says Claire.

But it's not all good news.

Inflation is causing the product to be more expensive than ever before.

"The cost has absolutely gone up obviously with the raise in gas prices and whatnot," says Claire.

The owner of The Flower Place on the north side of the city has felt those effects too.

"We notice now the economy is having an effect. So people are watching their dollars and cents, so they're trying to not spend as much, or they want a better bouquet for their buck," says Judy Galvin.

Galvin says flowers went up by two dollars a unit from last year.

She also noticed a lot more customers purchasing budget-friendly bouquets this year.

"We had to increase the roses because we didn't have a choice. But for everything else, we tried not to because we tried to stay budget-friendly. We've always been budget-friendly," says Galvin.

On the plus side, because of loosened restrictions, Galvin says they've seen an increase in-store foot traffic.

"Probably about 200 orders and organized deliveries, and we have to do another re-order for flowers tomorrow because we keep running out," she says.

The Flower Place expects to make over 125 deliveries on Valentine's Day, proving that people still want to celebrate the day of love, even at a higher cost.