Economic Slump & Valentine's Day Spending in Central New York

By: Ginger Whitaker, NCC News.

Tightening belts

Earlier in February, the Macy's department store chain let go of some 2,000 employees, stating that their January sales dropped 7%. With consumers tightening their belts and the threat of economic recession looming, Central New York businesses could face lower-than-average revenues around the Valentine's holiday. Instead, many business-owners are saying the economy has little effect on Valentine's gift giving.

Bucking the trend

Michele Hicks, President of Something Different, a company in Syracuse making customized gift baskets to be sent all over the country. The store offers many products that are different from traditional Valentine's Day gifts. "A lot of the time people think just about chocolates and flowers. Chocolates - we have, but flowers - we don't...unless you want a chocolate rose," said Michele. Back in December, Michele says she expected the economic slump to affect the store's sales, but it turned out to be the biggest holiday yet. The reason? "People want the people in their lives to know that they love them, and I don't think the economy is going to change that," she said.

Problematic weather

According to Michelle, around Valentine's Day, the weather is more of a problem for Something Different than the economy: "We don't anticipate the economy to affect us at all, in fact, we worry more about the weather affecting us and our deliveries and those coming to the store than the economy."

The weather is a problem for other local businesses, such as Westcott Florist, this Valentine's Day. Dino Centra is the manager of the shop. He says almost all his customers want flowers delivered on Valentine's Day. "The main thing that people really like is to have the flowers delivered to the person's office while people are at work," said Dino. Similar to Something Different, Dino says Westcott Florist is not threatened by economic decline. He says sales are consistent with last year's, but online flower delievery services are posing a significant threat. "Online businesses promote Spring-type arrangements because they're cheaper...we try to cover everyone's budgets," said Dino. In an effort to compete with online businesses, his store also offers gifts other than flowers, such as candy bouquets and stuffed animals.

Traditional gifts

According to many Syracuse store owners, traditional Valentine's Day gifts remain the most popular. Shelly Mahoney is the owner of Annie's Hallmark store on West Genessee Street. She says talking plush animals have been their most popular Valentine's Day gift. The dog version sold out before Valentine's Day. On February 14, the store was full of people spending their money. Shelly says the store has not been affected by decreased consumer spending: "...not really here have we noticed that there's any downturn in the economy and actually we looked at numbers this morning and we're up for the month." She says Valentine's Day is the store's #1 holiday, and it's a nice break from the sometimes drab winter. "It's an uplifting day, we see a lot of people we don't normally see and they're happy."

Less-Traditional gifts

If sales at the Chocolate Pizza Company in Marcellus are any indication, Central New York is not the only region unaffected by a declining economy. The Company has shipped all over the U.S. and even overseas in preparation for Valentine's Day. "Our pizzas have gone to every state, they've gone to Japan, France, Denmark...," said Bonnie Hanyak, owner of the Chocolate Pizza Company in Marcellus. She says the shop has been working hard to get ready for the holiday, sometimes churning out 200 chocolate pizzas in a single day. Even though each gourmet pizza is somewhat pricey, Bonnie says there's no shortage of customers. "We just have a quality product, use quality ingredients and I think that no matter what the economy is, people are always going to treat themselves, especially at certain times of the year," said Bonnie. And Valentine's Day in Central New York seems to be no exception this year.