Valentine's Day will be here before we know it, but if you haven't picked up something for your special someone, don't worry - local places like have plenty of those last-minute sweets for your sweetheart.
Readmore's Hallmark has a lot to choose from to give to your valentine this year, everything from bags of all sizes to jewelry. They say that this time of year is some of their busiest when it comes to people buying cards.
"We are a top Valentine's holiday location, this is the card giving time of the year," said Cindy Reynolds, store manager at Hallmark in Lima. "Mother’s Day is still second to Valentine’s Day for card giving. It's always a fun day for us; we have a lot of people come in who want to shop locally and we have a lot of things to offer them."
When many people think of Valentine's, flowers may come to mind, and Haehn's Florist in Wapak has been preparing for this holiday for a while now. The owner says that it's a big process every year to get everything planned out and ready for the influx of orders that they receive right around Valentine's Day.
"We try to keep records from year to year to year, and with Valentine's being on a weekend, it kind of spreads it out," said Mick Haehn, owner of Haehn's Florist. "A lot of husbands or wives are sending flowers to their spouses at work on Friday, and then we're getting a lot of orders for home deliveries on Saturday, or pickups, we're expecting a lot of pickups."
Another local store that is seeing a lot of business is Winan's Chocolates. They've been putting together chocolate boxes and filling orders for people, and that's been a big thing for them, especially as a local business that is still trudging through the COVID-19 pandemic.
"Actually, we’ve been busier this year than some of the years past, and we’ve done really well with our pre-orders for chocolate-covered strawberries this year," said Amy Ambrose, owner and manager of the Winan's Wapakoneta location. "All of our local businesses are seeing people coming in, shopping local, supporting the local economy, and that really does make a big difference."
And speaking of the pandemic - as expected, that is affecting people's Valentine's Day plans this year. The National Retail Federation found that people are spending about $32 less on gifts this year, and only about 24% of consumers that were asked said that they planned to celebrate the holiday with an evening out.
But, the NRF was pretty optimistic that consumers will be falling back on their usual Valentine's Day traditions next year.
