Roses, roses everywhere...

Gurnaaz Kaur

Flowers, chocolates, teddy bears, cards, more flowers and more chocolates...do you think Valentine’s Day? If yes, can you remove red roses from this list? Hasn’t it been symbolising passion, love, commitment and more? 

Well, it seems the definition of love and Valentine’s is changing. At least that’s what it seems when you go out an evening before Valentine’s to see all florists sitting idle with endless number of roses that have no takers. “There is just no craze about Valentine’s Day this time. We are barely managing to sell a stick of rose at Rs 30-40, while there has been a time when it went for even Rs 100,” says Anil Bhatia, owner, Khoobsurat Florist-34.

The whole block dedicated to florists said something on similar lines. “Rose day was still okay, but overall it has been a poor response,” says Pinky, a salesperson at Surbhi flowers-34.

The first in the block and perhaps the oldest in Sector 34, Green Valley Flowers, has all the roses but no buyers. “It’s worse than routine. The sale has been zero. We’ve blocked so much money and now sitting here wasting our time. We are better off without a Valentine’s Day,” echo the owners, Veena Gupta and Gyanendra Gupta. 

There were some hopeful sellers in Sector-35A. “Although we’ve had just two-three customers since morning, our fingers are crossed for the D-Day is tomorrow. It’s a gambling but who knows the sales picks up tomorrow,” says Rajesh Kumar, owner of Mehak Florist-35A.

It hasn’t been that bad for The Ferns and Petals outlet in the same sector. “Thanks to our exclusive packaging, we’ve had customers today. Rose Day was huge for us,” shares the owner, Kuljeet Singh.

Sales down

The well-known row of florists opposite Mount View in Sector-10 didn’t seem that upbeat too.  “Maybe that is because of Shivratri. The young crowd hasn’t been able to step out and they are our main customers for this day,” explains Rajneesh Kumar, salesperson at Premium Floral Studio.

A salesmen at another shop said they could see this coming since it was a cold day for them even on Rose Day. “Our online delivery is better than retail. We have all the exotic flowers in stock, but there is no demand for them on this day,” says Jaspal Singh, owner of Ferns and Petals-10.

Most florists say the wholesale prices go through the roof around Valentine’s Day, but the demand is diminishing with each passing year. So, is the rose a thing of the past?

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