Valentine's spending is expected to go up year-over-year as consumers expand their gift-giving to friends — and even pets.
Tim Ludwig knows a thing or two about selling flowers. His family's flower shop, Jim Ludwig's Blumengarten Florist in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, has been around since 1929. And the fifth-generation florist thinks this Valentine's Day, they're going to sell more flowers than last year. And this isn't about prices.
Even as inflation over the past year puts a burden on consumers and businesses across the country – people are putting money and effort toward those they care about most. More than half of consumers are planning to celebrate in some way and will spend on average about $192.80. That's up from $175.41 last year, and is the second-highest figure since the National Retail Federation began Valentine's Day tracking in 2004.
The top gifts this year include candy at 57%, greeting cards at 40%, flowers at 37%, an evening out at 32% and jewelry at 21%. Americans plan to spend more than $5.5 billion on jewelry and nearly $4.4 billion on an evening out. Other items on the list include gift cards and clothing. During the pandemic, florists had it tough — flower growers stopped production, since there weren't big events like weddings, said Holley Simmons, who has owned the shop She Loves Me in Washington, D.C., for the past five years. There are still some supply chain disruptions, like for winter weather, when florists have to ship in flowers rather than work with local growers, but not to the same extent. Overall, however, supply issues have led to higher prices.
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