All you need is love – and money
A look at the Valentine’s Day industry in Halifax
Photo by Meggan Desmond
Sweet Jane’s
Candy, chocolate and more candy; what can be more romantic and fun?
Janet Merrithew (above), owner of Sweet Jane’s on Doyle Street, has been prepared for Valentine’s Day for the past two months.
The candy shop window has been decorated with everything from Valentine’s chocolates to candies and wine glasses.
Hundreds of emails have been sent out promoting products and services that Sweet Jane’s offers for Valentine’s Day.
The shop makes a variety of popular gift baskets, catering to both men and women.
Baskets for men can include egotistical candies such as Mr. Big bars and Hot Tamales. Baskets for women play off intimacy with candy bras and G strings.
“We also do a candy tray that’s good for a group of people. If you’re getting together as a group and you’re celebrating Valentine’s or you want to send it to an office,” she says.
Sweet Jane’s most popular Valentine’s Day items are the chocolates.
Teddy bear truffles and heart-shaped boxes filled with chocolate still trump the candy gift baskets.
Merrithew also orders in a variety of Valentine’s oriented chocolate bars, with specific sayings on them, including “I Love You,” “Lust” and “Smooch.”
Like most places, Merrithew begins to see the Valentine’s Day rush the week leading up to Feb. 14.
“Because it’s on a Sunday this year, we’ll see a lot of people stroll in Sunday.”
Chocolate and candy are not the only Valentine’s gifts Sweet Jane’s has to offer. Merrithew also orders in a variety of other merchandise, which caters to those who may not have a sweet tooth.
They include picture frames, head massagers, jewelry and heart-shaped MP3 speakers.
“We carry things for people ages two to 92.”
– Meggan Desmond
Photo by Meggan Desmond
Night Magic Fashions
Lingerie, chocolate and dim lighting are just a few ways to spice up Valentine’s Day.
The manager of Night Magic Fashions, Laura Myers, has her store fully prepped.
For Valentine’s, she orders in a lot of products and sets up mannequin displays in the window of her Sackville Street store.
“We get ready around January. Basically when Christmas is over, Valentine’s stuff goes out.”
But most of their products remain the same.
“We have stuff here that will enhance intimacy, such as lotion and massage oil. So there’s not much prep. We’re intimate 24-7,” Myers says.
After the window display has been set up with mannequins in hot red teddies, thongs and scanty lingerie, she focuses on staffing.
The busier days for Night Magic are Saturdays, so Myers makes sure she has enough staff on for that day.
Out of Valentine’s Day, Halloween and Christmas, Valentine’s Day always comes in third.
Although business does get steadier leading up to Valentine’s Day, it’s nothing compared to Halloween.
“People might think that Valentine’s would be excruciatingly busy but it’s not. We’re steady and there’s definitely a positive fluctuation in sales but other than that, we don’t have to double-man ourselves.”
She attributes this to the already intimate nature of the store.
Night Magic does have a variety of Valentine-oriented products, including body chocolates, massage oils, love books and the popular heart-spotted lingerie.
“Everything is pretty much basic when it comes to Valentine’s. People are just looking for something romantic or fun. It’s an intimate day and that’s what we’re here for.”
– Meggan Desmond
Photo by Meggan Desmond
My Mother’s Bloomers
What symbolizes love, life, happiness and is a traditional Valentine’s Day present? Flowers.
Florists are among the busiest retailers before Valentine’s Day. Owner and florist of My Mother’s Bloomers on Spring Garden Road, Neville MacKay, is no stranger to the rush.
“We prepare for Valentine’s Day in a couple of different ways. First thing we do is up the dosage.” They stock up on larger quantities of flowers than usual.
My Mother’s Bloomers is located in the Spring Garden Place Mall, on Spring Garden Road.
The flowers are ordered months in advance. Because the flowers are usually flown and trucked in from across North America, they don’t arrive until a few days before Feb. 14.
MacKay and his staff also cut ribbon and paper in advance so everything is ready to go when the flowers arrive. That’s not the only way they prepare.
“We watch the weather very closely, so if it looks like it’s going to be cold on the weekend of Valentine’s Day, we can prepare to have extra packaging ready,” says MacKay.
My Mother’s Bloomers feels the crunch of the Valentine’s Day rush the week leading up to it. MacKay says he’s “busier than a five-dollar hooker on payday.”
“Valentine’s Day is a one-shot deal. Because it’s such a short time-frame, a lot of people leave it until the last minute,” he says
He says that more women come in advance and men come near the end. The closer it gets to the day, the younger the men get.
Although My Mother’s Bloomers carries a variety of flowers, the red rose is still the most popular.
“It’s the symbol of love and it has been for centuries,” he says.
Red roses might not fit into everyone’s budget. MacKay doesn’t want that to discourage people, they have flowers that will fit almost any budget.
“I don’t care if somebody is spending $2 or $2,000, we treat them the same because it’s that important. If you’re coming in with your $2 to spend on a flower, then that must mean an awful lot.”
My Mother’s Bloomers caters to everything from simple orders such as single flower, to the extravagant, such as burying an engagement ring inside a rose.
“Whether you’re hatched, matched or dispatched, everyone needs flowers.”
– Meggan Desmond
Photo by Kathleen Hunter
Rosemary’s Chocolates
Rosemary Bowman remembers the strangest thing she’s ever made out of chocolate.
“Breasts,” she says, chuckling. “I think they were a size 40D and they actually went to Florida.”
Bowman owns and runs Rosemary’s Chocolates, a gourmet Belgian chocolate shop in City Centre Atlantic on Dresden Row that specializes in holiday-themed chocolate, including Valentine’s Day. She’s been in business for a decade, custom-making chocolates for Haligonian sweethearts.
Bowman started making chocolates at home about 15 years ago and has since turned it into a lucrative business.
And why shouldn’t she?
According to a University of Western Ontario study, Canadians spend an average of $144 million each Valentine’s Day on chocolate and candy, with gifts accounting for 75 per cent of sales.
Bowman starts by tempering chocolate – melting it to a smooth and creamy consistency that’s perfect for molding and dipping. Then she pours it into the mold or dips in a strawberry or a piece of ginger.
Once it’s hardened, she packages the chocolate. Then it’s ready to sell and, of course, eat, which is a chocolate lover’s favourite part of the process.
Her fillings are made from pure-fruit compound. Her shop is peanut-free. She also sells dairy-free and gluten-free chocolate, something which she says is very important to her allergy-conscious customers.
Bowman makes custom-flavoured chocolate as well. One of her most popular items is chocolate bars made with habanero pepper powder.
“It gets sweet and then you’ll get the heat,” she says of the spicy and sugary treats.
The specialty items aren’t what keep people coming back, she says.
“There’s a few that like the out-of-the-ordinary,” she says, “but I would say 95 per cent of the population really enjoys just straight chocolate.”
Bowman says dark chocolate is most popular among her customers, making up about 75 per cent of her orders. Milk chocolate accounts for about 20 per cent, and white chocolate takes the rest.
“But you’ll find at Easter time your dark chocolate people that absolutely love dark chocolate will buy milk chocolate,” she says.
“They find it brings them back to their childhood, and when they have their milk bunnies it’s the same as being a kid again.”
Every occasion calls for something different, whether it be cream centres at Christmas or chocolate-covered strawberries on Valentine’s Day.
As for her favourite, Bowman says it depends on what she’s eating.
“If I’m eating marshmallows, it’s milk chocolate. If I’m eating the centres like the orange cream or strawberry or maple, it’s dark chocolate. It has to be.”
– Kathleen Hunter
