Flower shops busy with last minute Valentine’s Day customers

Valentine’s Day is the busiest time of year for flower shops and vendors in Santa Barbara.

Long time businesses like Riley’s Flowers on Chapala and Carrillo Street sees five times the average amount of customers this week. The business’ hours remain the same, but there are more employees on staff during Valentine’s Day week.

“The last minute customers will come in at 7 o’clock tonight. We’ve actually had customers come in at 2:30 in the morning. We had someone call this morning at 4:30 to see if they could get flowers delivered today,” said Chris Riley.

The Riley Family started the business over 40 years ago. Chris Riley’s mother used to sell flowers on the street before saving enough money to have a storefront.

Also taking advantage of the holiday and people who need to purchase gifts for their loved ones are pop-up stores and street vendors.

Also open for business is Wren Floral. It’s located on 13 Anacapa Street in Santa Barbara’s Funk Zone. The owners of the store, Emma Lauter and Carla Wingett, have been in the floral business for years. They’ve specialized in events and weddings. They believed it would be fitting to open for the first time on Valentine’s Day.