New Haven Independent

“Usually during holidays it has more to do with the weather than the economy,” said Weisser [pictured], as he loaded stenciled “Roses” signs out of his warehouse and into his van for the Valentine’s Day crowd Thursday morning. Weisser, who has run flower stands across town for 28 years, rented five extra trucks to prepare for his busiest holiday. But by the end of the day he said this year was slower than usual.

Weisser was cautious not to buy too much stock after the 2007 Valentine’s Day Blizzard hit his business hard.

“Last year was the Nor’easter and it was horrible. We barely broke even,” Weisser said. “This year was OK. Not great.”

In the late 1980s business boomed, until the economic downturn in the early ’90s local recession, when people stopped buying flowers in between holidays. Business went back up during the later part of the 1990s, but Weisser said people have stopped buying flowers in between holidays over the past two years.

“Holidays usually pan out, but when the economy’s bad, after the holidays it tends to go back to being a dead business.”

It was also a slow year for Raul Rivera, who sells flowers in front of Enson’s Gentlemen’s Clothing on Chapel Street. He said people bought more of the single roses, which go for $5, than the more expensive arrangements which can be as much as $100.

“Last year, people was buying flowers to impress,” Rivera said. “They would spend like, eighty to a hundred dollars. But this year it is more the details.”

A flower vendor at Gourmet Heaven, who would not give his name, said this year he made “definitely a lot less” in sales than last year.