While inclement weather wasn’t enough to keep diners away from restaurants on Valentine’s Day, local florists struggled with lowered sales and delivery problems on what is normally their busiest day of the year.
“It definitely had a negative impact, without a doubt,” said Carol Beales, owner of Galleria Florist in Falls Church, said of the icy weather. “I don’t know if I’ll recover financially this year.” Although her shop picked up orders from customers who had found other stores in the area closed, business at Galleria was down about 40 percent, said Beales. The store delivered flowers with only five of their 10 normal delivery staff.
“A couple of our customers said, ‘Oh, thank you so much for being here; we know we can count on you,’ ” Beales said.
Flowers on the Hill in D.C. started its deliveries as early as Monday, but saw about a 15 percent decline in business, according to shop owner Shelby Weaver. The understaffed shop relied on friends and relatives to help out with deliveries — a friend of Weaver’s even came in to help after a tree fell on his house that morning.
“It was an altogether different Valentine’s Day than usual; one we hope we never have to repeat,” Weaver said.
Though many restaurants anticipated that couples would decide to escape the weather and stay in for their Valentine’s Day dinner, business was booming for restaurants in D.C., Maryland and Virginia.
“It helped that the snow stopped early,” said Marc St. Jean, a manager at L’Auberge Chez Francois in Great Falls, which had only three canceled reservations.
John Fielding, co-owner of David Craig Bethesda, was so surprised at the heavy turnout that he confessed he overbooked the restaurant.
“We thought we would have cancellations, but we had every single reservation show up,” Fielding said. “It’s just a good sign for us as a business that people are willing to come out on a night like this.”
It’s not unusual for holiday diners to ignore the weather when it’s a special occasion, said Robert Hall, a manager of Jaleo Restaurant’s Crystal City location, which served 250 people Wednesday night.
“When someone makes a reservation on Valentine’s Day, they usually try to come, hell or high water,” Hall said.
