Styled Stems in Maple Grove Calls Valentine’s Day Its ‘Super Bowl’

If you spent more money than usual on Valentine’s Day this year, you’re not alone.

According to the National Retail Federation, Americans planned to spend a record $29.1 billion on Valentine’s gifts. That’s nearly $2 billion more than the previous record set last year.

For a new Maple Grove flower shop, the occasion marked a big learning opportunity.

“It’s a big guessing game,” said Alex Lehr, co-owner of Styled Stems. “We are pretending to be psychics and predict the future.”

This is the first Valentine’s Day at Styled Stems’ new Maple Grove location.

Styled Stem co-owner Leah Schmidt puts together and arrangement of red roses for Valentine’s Day.

The flower shop opened in December after relocating from Blaine, so the owners didn’t quite know what to expect.

They described Valentine’s Day as their “Super Bowl.”

Staff members worked non-stop, putting together hundreds of arrangements for their growing customer base. The high volume meant that everyone, including family members, were recruited to help with deliveries.

Experts say Americans budgeted an average of $199.78 per person on gifts, and Style Stems felt that rush firsthand.

“It probably makes up about an eighth of our sales for the whole year, so it’s a big chunk,” said Leah Schmidt, co-owner of Styled Stems. “And this is the one time that we get the most amount of fresh-cut flowers. So, both of our coolers are completely full. We can’t fit anything else in there.”

The shop brought in more than 1,500 roses for the big day.

As for how to care for the flowers, Schmidt recommends switching out the water a few days after receiving them. Then, make a small cut at the bottom of the stems. Doing so should help extend their life by several days.

Employees of Styled Stems have been hard at work all week organizing floral arrangements for Valentine’s Day.

Related: Styled Stems Flower Shop Takes Root in Maple Grove

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