Lucas County businesses have all hands on deck for Valentine's Day rush

LUCAS COUNTY, Ohio — Whether it was Toledoans looking for chocolate or flowers for their loved ones, local businesses worked to keep up with the Valentine's Day rush Monday.

"We definitely have a big increase in traffic today," described Jason Peters, owner of Maumee Valley Chocolate and Candy.

For local businesses, Valentine's Day is one the busiest holidays of the year as each of the shops had the doors constantly opening and phone calls kept coming in.

"It all hits on one day. Everybody wants everything on Valentine's Day for the most part so it makes it pretty crazy and hectic and everybody's last-minute ordering, for the most part," said Christy LaVigne at Emery's Flowers & Co.

It was so busy that all of the businesses facing this rush either brought in extra helping hands or planned to extend their hours to make sure they could get everything together.

"I'll be here until I can’t take it any more and then I'll be here early tomorrow morning," Peters said. "My mom's here helping me so we definitely have everybody on staff here today."

The increase in people didn’t look like it would be stopping any time soon either as all the owners expect the rush to last into tomorrow.

"We’re going to start getting busier and busier," said Josh Miller, owner of Hafner Florist. "Tomorrow is probably going to be the busiest day because Valentine's Day seems to be a little bit of a last-minute holiday."

But the owners explained that this year's hustle and bustle feels more normal compared to the past few years which were impacted by inflation and the pandemic. It's a bit of normalcy they're happy to see and share with the community.

"Being able to help deliver that love for everybody on Valentine's Day and help everybody express how much they love one another is cool to be a part of."