Uneasy romance

Roses & More pushed the last Montana- and Idaho-bound trucks off its Spokane Valley loading dock Thursday night, closing out the more distant Valentine’s Day 2010 deliveries for the region’s largest flower wholesaler. Today, those flowers will be beautifying dining rooms, kitchens and mantles from Billings to Boise.

Almost all will have started their journey in California, Colombia or Ecuador, owner Bob Hamacher said. As much as 70 percent will be roses, preferably red, but Hamacher said growers often demand customers include a mix of other colors in their orders.

He said Colombia was the preferred supplier this year, based on cost and quality. Overall, he added, the rose market has been off, and the past year was a challenging one for wholesalers.

But the retailers really had it tough, Hamacher said.

“The poor florists, they’re scared to death,” he said. “A lot of them are mom-and-pop operations.”

Smaller towns that might have had two or three flower shops are down to one, he said. When sawmills in a community like Orofino close down, the impact on sales is immediate.

And in Boise, where the economy has been hard-hit by layoffs at Micron and a construction bust, Hamacher said three or four stores have closed just within the last two months.

Still, he said, Roses & More has done well because demand has rebounded from 2009, when “we were snowed to death.”

Area florists, as well as chocolatiers, said this Valentine’s Day was off to a promising start, but the calendar had their hearts beating a little faster.

Monty Lewis, co-owner of Appleway Florist & Greenhouse Inc., said Wednesday that gauging business for the holiday would be difficult not only because it falls on a Sunday. A Monday Presidents Day follows for the first time in 11 years, she said, and some schools were scheduled to be closed Friday.

Lewis said the typical, procrastinating male could be counted on to delay calling for flowers until late in the week. That will make deliveries to workplaces problematic, possibly denying wives and girlfriends one of Valentine’s Day’s sweetest pleasures:

“They get to ‘ooh’ and ‘aah’ with their co-workers,” she said, adding that more flowers are dropped off at offices than homes.

Also, Lewis said, florists prefer business deliveries because they know someone will be there to accept the bouquets, and clustered office buildings increase driver efficiency.

At Garden Spot Floral in Deer Park, owner Jennifer Williams said Wednesday that orders were starting to pick up.

Between flowers and gift items, she said, “I’m going to be all right.”

Williams said she was expecting a marginal increase in sales compared with 2009.

Kara Kane said sales were good at Halletts Chocolates.

For heavyweight givers, the company was offering 7 ½-pound, heart-shaped boxes of treats, she said. Kids could buy $1.35 suckers.

Purchases of some items helped raise money for some of the elementary schools in the area, said Kane, one of the owners of the family business.

Halletts makes and sells chocolates for stores from Great Falls to Seattle, she said.

Pam Becklund, manager of Bruttles By The Lake in Coeur d’Alene, said Wednesday was busy. She said she expected trade to build with the arrival of more confections Thursday.

Bruttles is noted for its soft peanut brittle. Many shoppers will come in the store Thursday and Friday just to look, then return to buy on Saturday, Becklund said.

Hamacher said orders were pouring in Thursday, and trucks will circulate the Spokane area through Saturday to allow retailers to restock. For really desperate stores, the warehouse will be open Sunday morning for those willing to pick up more stock.

“I don’t want to see the dad who forgot,” Hamacher advised.