Traditional wisdom had always predicted that when Valentine’s Day lands on a Sunday, holiday sales are down, and when combined with a winter deep freeze, sales would really suffer. However, Valentine’s Day 2016 seems to have beaten the odds as several supermarket retailers reported good to very good holiday sales.

This year the polar vortex returned to the United States on Valentine’s weekend with 16 states below freezing and many cities setting new record low temperatures. Temperatures in the Boston area were reported to be -8 degrees, with wind chill factors from -20 F to -30 F. The floral manager at one Boston supermarket told The Produce News, “The cold weather didn’t make any difference here. We brought in what we had planned to order and we sold out. It was a nonfactor.” Similar reports came in from other stores we surveyed in New England.

In New Hope, MN, the Saturday morning temperature was -14 F, with brutal wind chills, and Ashley Dimmitt, floral manager at the Hy-Vee store, told The Produce News, “We had some concern when we heard the forecast for the cold weather and snow, but we were too busy taking care of our customers to notice any impact. When Sunday afternoon came around, we had moved through most of our product. It was a great holiday for our new store.”

Yet florists definitely have to learn to roll with the punches and expect the unexpected every February. “There are so many variables to a successful holiday — you can have the best-laid plans, the shop can look amazing, and then Mother Nature throws a sucker punch at you and you just deal with what is thrown your way,” Cheryl Overland, floral manager at Hy-Vee in Albert Lea, MN, told The Produce News. “Unusually bitter cold weather hit Minnesota this Valentine’s holiday. We experienced minus five degrees on Saturday and blizzard conditions on Sunday, making customers leery to bring flowers out into the cold. Also, this presented the problem of having to triple wrap items so they arrived to the recipient unharmed.”

Fortunately, many parts of the country did not suffer from the cold and reported very strong holiday sales. “The weather couldn’t have been better. [It was] beautiful all week and weekend with temps in the 80s,” Liane Mast, marketing and floral director at Stater Bros. in California, told The Produce News. “Valentine holiday sales were on track with our goal. We prepared for increased sales, and exceeded our goal with a 10.68 percent increase over last year’s Valentine’s.”

Also, the anticipated Sunday holiday sales slump never seemed to materialize. “Sunday didn’t seem to affect the sales — sales trended same as last year with half the holiday sales made on the day of the holiday,” said Mast. Another floral manager in Fort Meyers, FL, told The Produce News, “Sunday sales were very good. We did nearly 50 percent of our holiday sales on Sunday.”

Supporting the success of holiday sales and profits was a strong supply of good quality product at lower prices this year. In Colombia, rose production was up over last year with more than half a billion flowers shipped to North America for Valentine’s Day. Yet Colombia’s export promotion agency, ProColombia, said in a news release that due to the country’s weak currency its exports were nearly 39 percent less expensive this year.  

Ecuador, another major supplier of flowers to the United States, is struggling with an economic crisis that also drove its flower prices down. Alejandro Martinez, president of the Association of Producers & Exporters of Flowers, stated in a news release that despite a higher volume of sales than last year, there was a 10 percent reduction in prices. The oversupply in the market due to the economic downturn in Russia (a country that had previously accounted for 27 percent of Ecuador’s total exports), along with a currency that doesn’t allow for flexibility, and credit restriction, created a perfect storm for reduced flower prices. Although the crisis produced a lot of pressure on Ecuadorian flower growers, it kept prices in line for American consumers this Valentine’s Day.

So, despite all the problems that can surprise the floral industry at Valentine’s Day, this year the love of flowers won out. As Liane Mast said, “The holiday went smoothly. I was happy with everything.  Cupid was definitely on my shoulder.”