Flowers, teddy bears and jewellery: Local Cobram businesses gear up for the day of love

Or, the busiest day of the year if you’re Cobram Florist and Gifts owner Jackyn Tickell.

Ms Tickell has been preparing for Valentine’s Day 2024 since the start of January, making orders and preparing stock.

In comparison, she said, for many of her clients, buying for Valentine’s Day was very much last-minute thing.

According to Ms Tickell, roses are still very popular for clients, but there has been a shift in tastes over the past few years.

“In the last couple of years, we have seen more of a move to mix flowers to include some roses rather than just all roses,” she said.

“Because roses (on) Valentine’s Day do tend to be very expensive.”

One would think creating all the wonderful flower arrangements might take hours, but Ms Tickell could probably do it with her eyes closed.

“I’ve been doing this for 25 years. So it only takes me about five minutes to make an arrangement,” she said.

Along with flowers, another highly popular Valentine’s Day gift is teddy bears, which Cobram Florist and Gifts have in abundance.

According to Ms Tickell, one of the best parts of Valentine’s Day is helping out young teenagers in a relationship for the first time and guiding them through purchasing that special gift.

With temperatures set to hover around 26°C, Ms Tickell said that remembering a few simple things could help prevent flower purchases from spoiling.

“The most important thing to remember is flowers don’t like heat and they love water,” she said.

“So they need to be watered and they need to be kept cool. And don’t squash them. So don’t put them under anything or leave them in your car.”

With a cost-of-living crisis hitting Australians, forking out for Valentine’s Day may be daunting, but Ms Tickell said there was something for everyone’s budget.

This was echoed by Noonans Showcase Jewellers owner Cathy Noonan.

The jewellery store owner said the lead-up to Valentine’s Day typically saw a surge in customers.

Ms Noonan said customers liked buying jewellery with hearts or best friend charms for Valentine’s Day and that people shouldn’t think buying jewellery for the special day was exclusively a role for men.

For Noonans Showcase Jewellers staff, one type of client is especially prominent in the lead-up to Valentine’s Day: couples seeking to get engaged.

Ms Noonan said it was because couples wanted to mark their special moment on an already established special day.

“It’s a great time if you want to pop the question, the big question, pop it on Valentine’s Day,” she said.