Many northland businesses can sometimes struggle during the winter season. However, Valentine’s Day can give local businesses a much needed boost, during the winter season.

There is a bit of planning and preparation local businesses need to make in order to turn a profit. Patrick Moore, the Co-Owner of Va Bene, said they are booked throughout the week of Valentine’s Day several weeks in advance.

“We like to think of ourselves as kind of a date night destination, and there’s no better date night than Valentine’s Day. We are getting busy all week and continue to be busy out past today and into the weekend,” Moore said.

Moore said they have a waiting list with over 75 people waiting for someone to cancel their reservation to secure a table.

“Valentine’s Day is great for anybody who’s out in this part of town. People are out shopping for gifts for their special lovers,” Moore said. “The dinner scene will be hopping, and we’re excited for everybody that’s coming down here. Valentine’s Day is a great sort of pick up in the side of winter where we’re in the slow season.”

When it comes to the slower business season, it’s challenging, preparing for an influx of customers on a holiday. Ellwood Manus, an employee at Hepzibah’s Sweet Shoppe, said planning for Valentine’s Day is a bit tricky, because they need to order a lot of their candy from outside the country.

“Valentine’s Day is like one of our busiest holidays. It’s Christmas, Valentine’s and Easter for the candy business, apparently. We have to order Candy, like almost a year in advance, especially if it’s being imported from Europe,” Manus said. “So it takes a lot of a lot of consideration for everything that’s going on to try and make sure that we don’t overstock. Candy is a perishable, you have make sure that you do it right.”

Its not only chocolate that can have some bittersweet business, but trying to sell flowers can be difficult too. Brook Hoffbauer the co-owner of Duluth Flower Farm in Superior, said it can be challenging getting flowers ready for Valentine’s Day. Mostly due to the narrow flower growing season in the Northland.

“It’s really fun for us during those seasons when we can grow it this time of year. Even in this nice weather, we can’t grow that much,” Hoffbauer said. “We do have some stuff started in our greenhouse already, but nothing really ready for Valentine’s Day. So we support other farms at this time and try to get as much local stuff into the hands of the people.”

Businesses tend to see a larger boost in sales on Valentine’s Day. Although it takes a lot of hard work to stay afloat as we get closer to the spring season. For another story about another local business with Valentine’s Day you can read more here.