Youngsters makes a beeline for flower shops on Valentine’s Day. Picture by Prashant Mitra

Ranchi, Feb. 14: Manish Tantia, owner of Ferns and Petals — a flower boutique — on Main Road was up earlier than usual today. For someone who opens shop at 9 am, business began at 6 am, for Valentine’s Day.

“I had ordered 1,400 Dutch roses from Delhi and there were around 250 roses of mixed colours. However, by afternoon I ran out of stock and customers had to be satisfied with pink, yellow and white ones,” he said.

Similar was the case in other flower boutiques. Youngsters thronged them as soon as they opened shutters. By afternoon, the owners had run out of their stock of red roses and were selling yellow, pink and orange substitutes.

According to estimates from 30 city flower shops, the total number of roses brought into the market from outside was around 15,000 to 20,000. Cost of each rose ranged from Rs 5 to Rs 25, while the cost of a bouquet ranged from Rs 200 to Rs 2,000.

This year, Tantia said, they made special arrangements using a mirror as the base in a heart-shaped bouquet. “Many customers asked us to make home delivery. We provided free service for local deliveries and charged Rs 100 for those residing within a 20-km radius. We also got orders from far-flung BIT-Mesra. Of the orders received, 60 per cent were from married people. The rest were from youngsters,” he added.

Pramod Kumar, a customer at Ferns and Petals, ordered 10 roses for his wife. “I want to surprise her. I opted for this shop as they deliver it to our homes,” Kumar said. Ramu Malakar, a flower-shop owner based at Main Road, had brought around 1,000 Minipal roses from Calcutta. “It is a deeply-red rose and I sold around 800. Then, we ran out of stock, ” Malakar added.