Hope remains abloom despite the downturn

Flower shop owners are optimistic about business today despite expecting people to choose "more economical" bouquets due to the economic downturn.

At the Mong Kok Flower Market yesterday, a blackboard was placed outside a shop saying: "Do you prefer sleeping on your bed or the floor on Valentine's Day?"

It was meant to push people to buy flowers for their partners.

A shopkeeper named Ho said prices are similar to last year amid a recent trend of Hongkongers spending in the mainland.

"Nowadays people use Xiaohungshu a lot and so many go to the mainland," he said. "Would you dare to mark up?"

Ho's shop has received around 60 orders, including one customer who bought a bouquet of 99 stalks of red roses costing close to HK$4,000.

His shop imported flowers from overseas, such as roses from Ecuador in South America.

But another shop owner named Chiu is pessimistic about sales, saying he is still awaiting an order of 99 stalks of roses.

He expects business turnover to be around HK$30,000 to HK$40,000 - far less than before the pandemic when he could take around HK$100,000.

A man named Suen spent close to HK$500 on a pink rose flower bouquet for his wife.

"I will give this to her as a surprise," he said, adding the price was similar to previous years.

The chairwoman of the Hong Kong Flower Retailers Association, Elizabeth Tse Wong Siu-yin, told The Standard that prefestival orders accounted for 10 to 20 percent of total sales.

"Like in previous years many customers will place their orders in the morning on Valentine's Day," Tse said.

"Some of the shops resumed their business on the second day of the Lunar New Year to prepare for Valentine's Day."

But some decided to give up on Valentine's Day and take a longer break, she added. "After the pandemic we felt Hongkongers became poorer and some shops imported less stock," she said.

She recommended people who had not done so already to buy flowers at florists near their partner's workplaces to save on delivery costs.

On dining out, Simon Wong Ka-wo, president of the Hong Kong Federation of Restaurants and Related Trades, said Valentine's Day menus ranged from HK$1,000 to HK$3,000.

But he expects the economic slump to slash the number of reservations by 15 percent from last year.

Despite the catering trade "using every way" to cut prices, Wong said, the room for adjustment is limited due to the high operating costs.

Meanwhile, around 180 couples are to be married today, according to Immigration Department figures - a 26.8 percent drop from last year's 246.

But it was also lower than the figure in 2019, when 333 couples wed on Valentine's Day.

eunice.lam@singtaonewscorp.com