CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Valentine's Day is tomorrow making this one of the busiest times of the year for flower shops.
But one of the biggest flower shops in our area almost didn't get their main flowers delivered on time.
The owner of the Blossom Shop says the delay was due to the coronavirus.
A.C. Gilmore’s shop gets a majority of their its flowers from Ecuador.
Which means the flowers get sent here through several flights.
Staff is working overtime at the shop.
It's not because the business was unprepared, but it's because the shop's roses that are typically prepared four days in advance, were delayed.
While most flower shops get their valentine's day flowers from San Antonio, most of Gilmore’s comes from Ecuador.
But this year the shipment was delayed.
"The coronavirus, it hit Miami. it just stopped the flights,” Gilmore said.
Every Valentine's Day, this flower shop goes through nearly 6,000 roses to fulfill 600 orders.
So you can imagine how relieved Gilmore was when the 122 boxes of flowers arrived late Wednesday night from Miami.
Now, workers are scrambling to fulfill orders, making sure no one ends up in the dog house.
It’s something Alan St. Peter will be happy about as he sends flowers to his wife at the school she works for every year.
"I send the flowers over there and everyone's jealous,” he says.
Gilmore has even brought in additional people to help create bouquets.
"Some of these people can do 10 in 30 minutes, but they're dog tired, man," he said. “Everyone and their mother is gonna call in on Friday asking, 'am I too late?' They don't realize what a chore it is to get ready!"
But don’t fret.
“We got them in, we’re good,” Gilmore said.
Gilmore says his staff will work more than 14 hours today and stay late tonight to make sure everything is perfect for Valentine's Day.
