Floral wholesale sees no shortage ahead of Valentine’s Day

ROTHSCHILD, Wis. (WSAW) - Valentine’s Day is right around the corner and that means people will be out shopping for their valentine. Last year for Mother’s Day, retailers saw a significant shortage of flowers, but that isn’t the case this year for Valentine’s Day for Krueger Wholesale Florist, Inc. in Rothschild.

Workers at the wholesaler said they aren’t seeing a shortage of flowers because the ordering process started back in November, which is the earliest it’s ever had to order. Mass marketing account manager for the wholesale florist, Travis Yanagida, said some of their trucks did get delayed in the winter storm late last week, so planning early was key.

During this past weekend, workers were busy with the intake of flowers, as its trucks made their way back from Miami. Starting Monday morning, trucks will be heading out to deliver Valentine’s Day flowers to 1,500 retailers in nine different states in the Midwest before the holiday. Yanagida mentioned during the weeks leading up to Valentine’s Day, their delivery trucks are doubled from six to 18 to get the job done.

“It is a week before valentine’s day but all of our product is refrigerated so they’re in a, I guess you could say a sleeping state, for the flowers and it keeps them fresh, so once they get here and they get shipped out, they cut it, put it in the water, and they’re back to life.”

The wholesaler ordered more than 750,000 roses alone, not including carnations or even lilies, but millions of flowers will be going in and out during the week leading up to the holiday. The flowers came from California, and as far away as Colombia, Canada, Ecuador and Holland.

“If you’re ordering flowers for Valentine’s Day, make sure that you order early, the earlier the better to give the florist enough time to make sure they have the flowers that you need, and also definitely be kind to your florist, they are going to be very very busy, and it always helps when you make it easier for them,” Yanagida said.

One thing Yanagida also mentioned that makes the busy season a little bit easier, especially with the shipping delays and shortages the nation has been seeing since the start of the pandemic, is that the wholesaler has its own trucks for transportation.

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