Surat, February 13: In Surat, buying flowers for your beloved this Valentines may not be as simple an affair as it used to be and could cost you dearly. After all, with city-based florists selling bouquets ranging between Rs 500 and Rs 60,000, you might feel a tinge of disappointment. If the florists here are to be believed, the trend is just getting bigger.
The Exzora flower shop owner in Surat, Kumar Thakkar said, "On Valentines we generally use Dutch roses for the bouquets. As the bouquets differ with every occasion, on Valentine's specially imported red roses are most preferred. These rose are brought here all the way from Bangalore.'' We use 1.50 lakh to 2 lakh roses for Valentine bouquets and start preparing them a week before. As the day comes closer, we end up working on nights to meet the customer demand. Surat is known as the diamond and textile city in the world and the diamond and textile traders spend a hefty Rs 25,000 to 60,000 per bouquet on Valentines.
Having taken an international marketing degree in flowers from Rotherland in Netherland, Kumar added, "My family business is in diamonds but flowers interest me, which is why i decided to do a course and start an outlet in Surat and a rose nursery in Pune. We also export roses to European countries as the people there spend Rs 3500 per head every year on each member of their family.'' Elaborating on the different types of bouquets they sell on this particular day, Kumar said, "We use red roses and decorate bouquets with fruits, cakes, greeting cards, chocolates, balloons, fruit wines, jewellery. It depends on the purchasing capacity of the customer. If demanded, we can send bouquets to any part of India or even abroad as we have tie-ups with different agencies online. Villagers of South Gujarat who are settled in UK and USA often contact us through mails and order bouquets for loved ones here.
Source : expressindia.com
This V-day, flower industry's all abloom
