Valentine's Day: Roses are red, but prices are up

Samantha Salamone says she has had to pass on price increases to customers

Valentine's Day may be more expensive for the lovestruck this year as prices continue to rise.

Traditionally one of the busiest times of year for retailers, business owners in Northern Ireland have warned about having to pass on inflationary pressures to customers.

Inflation, the rate at which prices are rising, remained at 4% in January

It has been a busy week for pastry chef Samantha Salamone with Valentine's Day orders.

She started trading at St George's market last year and now supplies a new cafe in Stranmillis.

The cost of many of her ingredients, including cocoa powder and butter, have risen significantly which means she has had to pass that on to customers.

"Yes I have probably about 10-15% been raising my prices to supplement that income. With the rise in electricity and gas bills it doesn't feel like anything is letting up at the moment," she said.

She is trying to offset rising costs by scaling up production and also making some ingredients herself that are too expensive to buy ready-made.

"It has been really challenging because I do want to have a good standard and a gourmet product for my business so I have had to up my production so then I can make more items," she added.

Florist Penny Hamilton, who has been in business for 23 years, said her costs have risen considerably.

"With the price of gas in Europe and the price of heating the greenhouses where the flowers are grown, it's meant that the growers have had to put their prices up to facilitate this," she said.

"In the winter, when we have Christmas, coming into Valentine's Day and Mother's Day, when we have our peak season as florists, flowers are at their most expensive."

Penny Hamilton says her costs have risen considerably.

She said rising costs coupled with the cost of living crisis hitting disposable incomes is forcing some out of the industry.

"I think a lot of florists are finding it tough, smaller shops are closing down now because they don't have the footfall to sustain those costs," she said.

"Flowers are definitely becoming more of a luxury item again, there was a period of time when everybody would have had flowers in the house but definitely now we can see that people have to think about it before they spend on a bouquet."

Her Valentine's Day pre-orders are fully booked which means she is only bringing in exactly what she needs.

Valentine's Day is one of the busiest periods for florists

"It is good for me as it means I can order exactly what we need so we don't have waste, with the prices being so high and our margins being so much less we can't afford to be throwing anything out."