Photo By Petty Officer 2nd Class Joseph Tyler Miller | NORFOLK, Virginia (Feb. 09, 2024) A variety of Valentine’s Day Bouquets in the...... read more read more
NORFOLK, Va. — Norfolk’s Navy Exchange (NEX) Floral Shop spent week’s preparing to help patrons share and spread the love on Valentine’s Day with hundreds of flower orders, candy and various themed gifts.
According to the National Retail Federation, Americans spent approximately $101.84 per person on their significant others this year for a total of about $25.8 billion overall on the holiday season throughout the U.S.
As the NEX finished the busy Thanksgiving and Christmas season, they rolled right into prepping for Valentine’s Day.
“We began ordering in January and by the first week of February we have everything ready and set up to start preparing for the big day,” said Kelvin Oliver, operations manager at the Norfolk NEX. “By February 9th we have most of the products out on the floor ready to be purchased by our customers.”
This year marks Oliver's third Valentine’s Day working at the Norfolk NEX. Using his knowledge from previous years, he knows exactly which products to advertise for the best sales.
“For Valentine’s Day, obviously the biggest push is the flowers, candy and jewelry,” said Oliver. “The flowers especially are one of our biggest sellers.”
The NEX ordered over 4,000 sets of one dozen roses in preparation for the Valentine’s Day mad dash. Those flowers were prepared, processed and sold by approximately 15 Norfolk NEX employees.
The processing of the merchandise begins when the roses are removed from their boxes and trimmed before being stored in large refrigerators where they are watered and preserved to ensure their freshness. The processed bouquets are later put on display to be sold to customers at the floral shop.
The floral shop, where most of the Valentine’s Day products are sold, is normally operated by three full time florists, including Beverly Spruiell, who boasts decades of experience in the floral industry.
“This is definitely our busiest holiday, but one we enjoy the most,” said Spruiell. “We end up pulling from various departments to help and it’s nice to see everyone come together. Knowing that we are bringing love and happiness to people makes it all worth it.”
This year, the floral shop received help from 12 employees from other departments throughout the store to ensure quality and timely customer service for all their patrons.
The integrated team put together arrangements consisting of roses, available in several colors, and other flowers such as lilies, carnations, pixies and alstroemeria. The floral shop even offered deliveries within a 10-mile radius of the store to shoppers who could not pick up their flowers in-store.
After processing thousands of flowers and setting out hundreds of other Valentine's Day-related products, the NEX employees succeeded in their goal of preparing and selling items for Valentine’s Day selling more than 800 handmade arrangements and thousands of roses.
The NEX employees look toward their next big retail push and are excited to continue offering world class service and products to their patrons.
“Serving our service members, veterans and families is an absolute honor,” said Spruiell. “We look forward to continuing to provide top quality service to our patrons.”
| Date Taken: | 02.22.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 03.12.2024 10:54 |
| Story ID: | 465967 |
| Location: | NORFOLK, VA, US |
| Web Views: | 10 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Love is in the air at Norfolk’s Navy Exchange for Valentine’s Day, by PO3 James OMailia, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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