Unfavorable economic conditions haven't stopped customers from flooding local flower shops with orders for Mother's Day. Some florists have even reported being busier than in past years, despite adjusting their service to adhere to COVID-19 health regulations.
“I've been here about three years, and this is the busiest Mother's Day I’ve ever seen,” said Jane Doxey, head floral designer at Foxglove Floral and Gifts.
Many local flower shops, like Foxglove, Provo Florist LLC and Flower Patch, have implemented new practices to ensure employee and customer safety, such as contactless deliveries and the use of face masks.
These precautions, including leaving their physical store closed to the public, haven't held the shop back. Doxey said Foxglove had to stop taking orders earlier than she has ever seen before.
Flower Patch and Campus Floral have also had to cap Mother's Day orders to keep from being overloaded.
'They're completely swamped with deliveries,' said Miranda Morris, who was hired temporarily to help handle Flower Patch's massive influx of orders.
Provo Florist LLC Owner Tosh Metzger also reported having more orders than usual this year, with most of the increase coming from online business.
'I think we're busier because people can't see their mom, and so they want to send her flowers,' he said.
Like many retail businesses, however, the floral industry has seen pandemic-related setbacks. Morris said many types of flowers Flower Patch usually stocks are unavailable, because the countries or states that normally ship them have been unable to do so under current circumstances. The shop has had to make do with the flowers it has available.
Other businesses have not fared as well as florists, despite selling their own Mother's Day merchandise. The Sweet Tooth Fairy manager Tia Webb said that while individuals are still ordering treats for their moms, the shop hasn't been getting their usual large group orders.
'A lot of people would get a cupcake for every mother in their ward or something, and we haven't gotten anything like that,' she said.
Mother's Day jewelry has also taken a hit. Forge Jewelry Works CEO Shawn Mikkelson said his company is feeling the economic downturn just as much as anyone.
'We have changed our focus to setting up more appointments, so that we can try to keep the numbers limited on the amount of people that come in at one time,' he said.
Pioneer Book general manager Scott Glenn said the book store has also struggled, despite extending the dates of their annual Mother's Day promotion, a customer favorite, and expanding it to include online purchases.
“Business in general is off by about 50%,' he said. 'I think that’s just a reflection of people being cautious about their spending.”