The price of love: Chuah showing a cash bouquet for Valentine’s Day at her flower shop in Bukit Mertajam. — ZHAFARAN NASIB/The Star
BUKIT MERTAJAM: In the past, most florists would enjoy a longer break during the festive period.
But as Valentine’s Day falls on the fifth day of the Lunar New Year this year, some had to cut their vacation short to fulfil last-minute orders for customers.
BM Orchard owner Crystal Chuah, 40, said in the past, her family would close for a week to celebrate Chinese New Year.
However, this was not the case for them this year.
“We opened on the second day of the festival to take orders for Valentine’s Day, which falls on the fifth day of Chinese New Year this year.
“Most customers visited our shop to buy flowers for their loved ones right after the first few days of the celebration.
“Many of them were walk-in customers who needed to buy immediately, so we had to prepare various types of bouquets in advance,” she said yesterday.
Chuah said the trend in assembling flower bouquets is to have them wrapped in thicker piles, like the shape of a ballerina dancer.
“The most common sizes are still either three or six stalks of roses.
“Bouquets of bank notes are also popular, as they symbolise prosperity and gratitude in the form of money, especially this Chinese New Year,” she said.
However, Chuah said that despite being a much celebrated Year of the Dragon, incorporating its element into a Valentine’s gift or flower arrangement is not popular.
She also noticed a nearly 50% drop in Valentine’s Day orders this year, which she believes is due to the occasion falling right after Chinese New Year.
“Many customers would order flowers and send them over to their loved ones at their workplace.
“But since it’s still the festive period and many offices are closed, we did not receive many orders.
“Most customers, who are still on holiday, would only walk in and make purchases,” she said.
Another florist, Doreen Seah, 60, said red roses are still the most popular and that she has stocked up on them before Chinese New Year.
“Valentine’s Day is too close to Chinese New Year, so we had to order (them) from China earlier.
“Although we should be celebrating at home, we are back at the shop to work till late at night.”
