GREENFIELD — While winter weather may have hindered weekend plans and kept schools closed on Monday, local florists aren’t letting the snow get in the way of Valentine’s Day.
“Love is never affected by snow,” Heather Reloj, co-owner of Sigda flower shop, said on Monday.
She and her husband, Jaime Reloj, have owned the business since 2015. She said they will have more than 100 deliveries today. They are planning to have three drivers and five florists working throughout the day.
Jaime Reloj said they have taken precautions and use a variety of suppliers to ensure they get all of the flowers they need for the orders.
Becky Guyer, who owns Floral Affairs on Deerfield Street, said she and her team have been working additional hours to accommodate the busy holiday. She said she ordered 1,200 roses in anticipation of the holiday.
She said the snow had somewhat helped. They were able to catch up on orders during Sunday’s snow without a lot of phone calls. She anticipated that many men spent part of the day clearing snow, so there was a rush late in the afternoon on Monday. She said on Valentine’s Day they expect to have customers from the moment they open until they close.
She said when the holiday falls in the middle of the week, they get more business because more people order flowers to send to their significant other at work.
Guyer said the roads are clear now, so the timing of the storm was ideal, but still anticipates that some driveways won’t be clear.
She and her florists joked that customers are either “Last-minute Larrys” or “On-time Teds” and that they work with them to accommodate the Tuesday orders and make sure significant others are still impressed.
“Ultimately, if someone’s Valentine isn’t happy, that means we didn’t do our job right,” Guyer said.
Heather Reloj said Sigda also gets plenty of last-minute orders and they try their best to accommodate every customer. She said they do traditional arrangements, like a dozen red roses, to more unique arrangements. She said customers should have the name, the phone number and address of the recipient when they call.
The staff at Sigda works to talk to customers to figure out what the recipient will like, and often asks questions like if the woman is more modern or traditional and what kinds of colors she likes.
Heather Reloj said this Valentine’s Day is better than last year’s where the temperature hovered around zero degrees. She said if vases tipped over during delivery, the water would freeze.
This year, they’ve taken precautions but aren’t expecting the worst. Jaime Reloj said that running a delivery business is always a challenge in a New England winter. They ordered high-quality roses that last longer than typical ones.
“We always try to get the best of the best,” he said.
Heather Reloj said they really want to work with every person that calls, even on the day of, but won’t guarantee deliveries to the far reaches of the county.
“We aren’t going to send our drivers somewhere where we know they’ll get stuck,” she said.
However, the shop works to fill every single order it gets, because of the effect that receiving flowers can have on a customer’s day.
“What we love about what we do is that we have the power to make peoples’ days better,” Heather Reloj said.
Reach Miranda Davis at
413-772-0261, ext. 280
or mdavis@recorder.com.