Santa Maria florists hustle to meet high demands for Valentine’s Day

SANTA MARIA, Calif. - Love is in the air this Valentine’s Day weekend as business booms for Flower Carriage in Santa Maria.

"It’s speed. There’s no wasting time, we have to do what we have to do. We want to make sure everybody has their flowers on time," said owner Susana Cardel of Flower Carriage.

But due to COVID-19 health orders, there are fewer florists working on the orders at any given time.

"We’re going to be busy haha, it’s a lot of work. We've got to make all those women happy," said florist Amy Gauna of Flower Carriage.

Managers at the flower shop said they believe the pandemic has influenced customers to buy even more flowers this Valentine’s Day weekend.

"It already matches what we got last year. Yeah, definitely we're expecting to see it beat last year maybe by double. We’ll see what happens," said manager Miranda Smith of Flower Carriage.

In addition to online orders, customers are showing up at the store to buy flowers and other gifts throughout the day.

"It’s very important to support the local business. It’s nice to know the local nurseries are getting an opportunity to showcase the product that they work so hard for all year," said customer Lane Luis.

As these florists hustle to arrange one floral design to the next, they say they’ll keep on going until they run out of flowers.