BLOOMSBURG, Pa. — In just a few days, many people will get flowers for Valentine's Day. It's one of the busiest holidays of the year for florists, and right now, it's crunch time at Dillon Floral in Bloomsburg.
"We're busier, probably three to seven days out from when retail florists will be busy because we are getting product in and shipping it to them. Today will be our busiest day of the holiday," Walt Deitrick said.
Dillon Floral is a wholesale florist that provides flowers, plants, and accessories to nearly 1,000 retail flower shops.
"Mostly Pennsylvania, into New York some, New Jersey a little bit and Maryland a little bit," Deitrick said.
Employees here need to get the flowers to the local florists so that they can deliver them to customers.
And when it comes to roses, Dillon Floral has more than 200,000 of them to distribute.
"Most of the roses we order I ordered back in October, November. We try and get the crystal ball out and see how many we're going to sell. We come up with a number, and that's what we try and move," said Tony Creveling, Dillon Floral's vice president.
Dillon Floral gets flowers from all over the world. The COVID-19 pandemic makes things challenging.
"Come from Holland, come from Europe, they're having COVID issues. Getting the product here with lack of planes, lack of pilots, lack of drivers of trucks, everything is being delayed right now," Creveling said.
Creveling says the delays are frustrating.
"It's a big puzzle you have to put together right now. This year it's the biggest puzzle I've probably ever put together, and I've been here 37 years," Creveling said.
Despite those delays, Creveling says there should not be any issues with flower deliveries for Valentine's Day.
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