When it comes chocolate shops, there is no busier time than the week before Valentine’s Day.
“It’s mostly just me so it does get a little bit overwhelming,” Kim Long, owner of local chocolate shop Must Love Chocolate, said.
Whether it’s boxing chocolate covered strawberries, or making chocolate bark, everything Long makes this week will be wrapped in red ribbon.
She even makes a few more, just in case.
“There’s usually a few fellas, on Valentine’s Day, that show up and hope that we have a box of these strawberries ready to go that aren’t already spoken for. Which, we always try to have extras of for those guys.”
Next to chocolates, flowers are another item synonymous with Feb. 14. Some florists, like Pam’s Flower Garden, have hundreds of orders already placed Thursday. They’ll have as many as 20 people working inside the store on Valentine’s Day, and another dozen on the road delivering the perfect parcels.
“You’re fueling into the love that’s in the air,” Kay Kenney, designer at Pam’s Flower Garden said. “So it’s a happy time.”
And while they too deal with their fare share of last minute gift-buyers, some of their customers have been way ahead of the game.
“We did have our first Valentine’s Day order in October,” Kenney said. “It was for someone that was in the military, so he was really thinking ahead. We all gave him a round of applause when he came in for being on top of it.”
For the rest who have not planned for Valentine’s Day yet, there’s still time to show that special person in your life just how much you care.