The business of Valentine’s Day

This is the big day in the “month of love”. And Valentine’s Day means business is booming. Canadians are expected to spend $1.5 billion Friday.

This year’s top sellers are no surprise. 50 per cent of Canadians will buy some sort of chocolate, 33 per cent will buy flowers and 20 per cent jewerly. And of course some lingerie.

Lodovico Castagner is the Manager at Fiori: Red roses are beautiful, they’re classic. But mixtures of flowers — a beautiful bouquet.”

Liliana Mann is the Owner of Linea Intima: “They’ll ask by brand, ‘I want a PrimaDonna’. Sometimes we get ‘I want something sexy, a little number’ and things like that.”

Lori Eisenberger is with Beanermunky Chocolate: “Its always been kind of last minute for Valentine’s. The last days are the busiest. And that’s been true this year as well.”

On average, Canadians will each spend one hundred and 35 dollars on gifts for their loved ones. Business Professor at McMaster University Marvin Ryder says Canadians will go four per cent over their intended budget: “They always over spend. And I think its human nature. When you actually try to recognize someones love in your life, there importance to you, how can you put a price tag on that.

While shoppers rush to get those last minute gifts, they’ll have no luck at restaurants like this. Many been booked for weeks for Valentine’s Day.

Mark Farrugia is at La Piazza Allegra: “Because it fell on a Friday, it’s extremely busy. It started last night with us. Today other than dining really early or really late at night, we are completely booked.”

If your looking to buy those last minute gifts, you might be out of luck. While I was out visiting stores. Shelves were definitely on the verge of being empty. But that might not be a huge concern for some. More than 20 percent of Canadians say they wont be celebrating valentines.

Editor’s note: A brand name was misstated in an earlier version of this article. ‘pre-Madonna’ has been corrected to ‘PrimaDonna’.