A Valentine's Day flower display at Girton's Flowers. P-J photo by Michael Zabrodsky

Showing you care for your loved one on Valentine’s Day is expected.

Scrambling to find the perfect Valentine’s Day gift is not expected.

You may want to prepare a list of your loved one’s likes, and then choosing an item from that list shows your love and loyalty. On that list may be chocolate, jewelry or flowers.

JEWELRY

Jewelry can be expensive, so if you choose to purchase it, know your limits.

Gaylene Lindell, owner of Gaylene’s, 3045 Fluvanna Ave., said earrings and necklaces get the most attention on Valentine’s Day. “I probably sell more necklaces. Obvisously hearts are more popular. Some people just do the basics — hoop earrings,” Lindell said.

Lindell said women come to the store and make a list of what they like, and then give that list to their men, so they can purchase the item(s) at another time.

“When their guy needs a gift idea, he comes in and checks the list.”

Lindell said it her job to show the customer piece of jewelry, give a description, and then let the customer decide on what is best for her or him.

From left Nathan Pownall and Gaylene Lindell talk about jewelry at Gaylene’s.
P-J photo by Michael Zabrodsky

“My job is to show you what I have, explain it to you and let you decide what’s going to work for you both in price and what you’re looking for. And I ask questions. I always tell people to ask questions, because you want to know what you’re getting. You want to compare. You want to make sure you’re comparing apples and apples,” Lindell said. “You want to make sure you know that it’s a genuine stone.”

She added that customers need to know what karat the gold is because that will make a difference in price.

According to meriam-webster.com, a carat is a unit of weight used to measure the size of a gemstone such as a diamond. A karat is a measurement indicating the proportion of gold in an alloy out of 24 parts, so 18K gold is 18/24 parts gold, and pure gold is 24 karats.

Lindell explained she doesn’t just sell jewerly, but makes repairs as well. Most of her repairs consist of chain solders and ring re-sizings because over time, people’s finger sizes change.

CHOCOLATE

So you have a sweet tooth — on Valentine’s Day it’s a good bet that someone will be eating chocolate.

Darel and Janel Webb, owners of Webb’s Candies, 115 W. Lake Road, Mayville, said on Valentine’s Day, aside from best-selling items, customers come to purchase what they like the most .

“We sell chocolate covered strawberries more than anything– that’s our biggest seller,” Darel said.

The candy counter and other displays at Webb’s Candies.
P-J photo by Michael Zabrodsky

Darel added that not only do people want the strawberries, they come for other chocolate items as well — peanut clusters, raised clusters, and pecan frogs. Janel added that more men buy chocolates than women. And when a customer come to the store, she will explain what chocolates have caramels, or nuts in them, and usually the customer will make a decision based upon that information. A way, Janel Stated, to get to a woman is through her stomach. “Women just love chocolate,” Janel said.

Darel noted when preparing chocolate to enrobe (cover) nuts and caramels, and others items, it has to hover, depending on the seasons, around 86 to 87.5 degrees Fahrenheit otherwise when it dries, the chocolate will not have a shine to it. To get it to the proper temperature, colder chocolate is mixed with warmer chocolate which is called tempering.

Also, Janel said, chocolate candies also are about sharing memories.

“If you grew up on Webb’s Candies, you love Webb’s Candies,” Janel said.

FLOWERS

And of course roses are No. 1 on the list of flowers.

“Red is the first choice,” said Sue Carlson, owner of Girton’s Flowers, 1519 Washington St.

Carlson said that a dozen roses is probably considered the standard, but “people stop in to buy one, two or three,” Carlson said.

According to fnp.com there is a difference between a bouquet and a bunch.

“Broadly speaking, a flower bouquet is a beautiful and artistic arrangement of flowers by the size, colour, and variety while a flower bunch is made of randomly chosen flowers, and lacks a particular symmetry of artistic arrangements. Basically, in a bouquet, one will find art and creativity while a flower bunch is more rustic in tone,” the website said.

Carlson added that on Valentine’s Day, it’s men that do the bulk of the shopping. “A lot of women send to their boyfriends, husbands, and significant others.”

When a customer comes to the store, Carlson tries to make the experience easier by asking specific questions to help the customer find the right flowers. “We will ask if they have favorite colors or favorite flowers. We always have a display in the cooler that they can look at and get ideas,” Carlson said.

Carlson noted that the popularity of flowers on Valentine’s Day has to do with tradition. She said after purchase, roses usually last about five to seven days. She other popular flowers include iris, tulips and lilies.

“They are beautiful.”