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Love is in the air as Valentine's Day is right around the corner.
While every couple has their own style of celebrating this romantic day, a classic V-Day will be incomplete without the evergreen combo of sweet-smelling red roses with a box of chocolates. However, Delhi's local florists are worried that sales aren't as good this season, especially with the increase in the cost of flowers at the wholesale flower market in Ghazipur. Gopal Saxena, a florist in Kamla Nagar, shared, "Right now, we are getting one bundle of 20 roses from the mandi for Rs. 700-800. The quantity of stock coming from fields is very low. Currently, one rose ranges from Rs. 50-60 in the market. Otherwise, it used to be for Rs. 20 only. A good bouquet used to cost around Rs. 300-350, but since we are getting the flowers expensive, the cost has increased to Rs. 500-700." Sanjeet Singh, who has a small flower business full of beautiful blooms in Shalimar Bagh, talked about the unending economic impact of COVID-19. He said, "Business is slow this year because of coronavirus. Ever since COVID started, everybody's work has suffered. Now, who would buy flowers? People have to focus on only necessities and only those who have enough money can splurge. I remember earlier we used to get a lot of bookings 8-10 days in advance. This time no one here has any booking, not even of a single rose." Sunil Kumar, whose local flower shop has been in Pitampura for the last 40 years, feels Valentine's fever isn't that great this year. "Apart from flowers, we also had mini teddy bouquets for teddy day, but there were hardly any sales. Rose Day wasn't good either. The craze for Valentine's seems low this time," he said. While people are not visiting as much, Kumar added that many customers place their orders online. "Some customers contact us through phones. We share pictures of various bouquet designs with them and then create one as per their liking and deliver it," he shared. Shyam Saini, a florist running the business in Kamla Nagar since 1982, shared that the price of flowers will keep rising as the big day approaches. "The price of a single rose goes up to Rs. 100 on Valentine's Day. Flowers are the main thing for Valentine's Day and the shop will get busy on February 14th. Roses -- red, pink, white -- lilies, and orchids are in most demand. Mata rani ki kripa rahegi toh sab bikega," he signed off. While the current picture isn't very rosy, florists are hoping for a significant boom on the V-Day. (ANI)
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