About 9:30 a.m. Friday, the cooler at Humphreys Flowers was half full and fragrant with the smell of Valentine's Day floral arrangements and dozens of red roses.
Still two days away from the actual love holiday, which falls on a Sunday for the first time since 2010 this year, florists knew to expect a busy last few days of the week.
"Because you know, the ladies like to get the flowers at work, which is understandable," said Helen Humphreys Johnson.
Johnson co-owns Humphreys Flowers with her husband, Clint, together carrying on the three-generation, family-owned business that dates back to 1934 and Mrs. Johnson's grandmother.
And she knows Valentine's Day because she's seen a few growing up in the floral business.
"When it falls on a weekend, then your deliveries are going to be spread out a little bit more," she said. "We will have more residential deliveries that will go out on Saturday."
Americans are expected to spend a total $19.7 billion on Valentine's Day gifts and goodies this year, according to the National Retail Federation, including nearly $2 billion on flowers.
Approximately $1.7 billion is expected to be spent on candy, while shoppers are expected to drop around $4.4 billion on jewelry.
Valentine's Day is the fourth-largest shopping holiday in America by volume of sales, behind only Christmas, the back-to-school time in the fall and Mother's Day.
For the staff at Hot Chocolatier on Market Street, the retail value of Valentine's Day was obvious Friday, as customers lined up out the door of the shop throughout the day.
Valentine's Day weekend is "the biggest weekend of the year for us," said Janelle Newell, manager of the craft chocolate shop.
"Today's been pretty darn steady so far," she said Friday afternoon. "We're anticipating it getting a little bit busier as people get off work later on."
Newell said the shop begins preparation for the Valentine's Day rush as soon as the winter holidays end.
"We've been basically preparing to make massive amounts of truffles and specialty candies and things like that since right after Christmas," Newell said.
Hot Chocolatier is normally closed on Sundays but will be open from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. this Sunday for the holiday.
Humphreys Flowers will not be open on Sunday, and will not keep special hours, but did bring on extra hands for normal business hours leading up to Valentine's Day.
Mrs. Johnson said the shop started prepping about six weeks ago. While Valentine's isn't the largest flower-buying holiday of the year, it usually does come in a greater concentrated demand than other busy times, like Mother's Day and Christmas.
Mrs. Johnson said in all her years in the business, the introduction of the Internet has been the biggest element of change in the industry. Humphreys updates its selection on the store's website daily.
But at its core, the gist of the business remains unchanged: the full-service florist is still in the happiness business.
"I just love delivering them," said Sidney Edwards, a retired firefighter who works at Humphreys, looking at the shop's collection of Valentine's Day arrangements Friday morning.
"The look on their face when they get flowers," he said, "some people are having bad days, and when you take them something like this, it's uplifting."
Contact staff writer Alex Green at agreen@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6480.