BY ANY OTHER NAME: Unless you are...
BY ANY OTHER NAME: Unless you are buying one of those convenience store buds, expect to find company at your favorite flower stand today. . . . Valentine’s Day is the busiest single-day holiday of the year for florists, with 81% of the buyers men. Some say the floral color one chooses reveals different meanings (E1), but industry groups say red roses are the favorites. “I’d say they are 80% of what we sell for Valentine’s Day,” said John Abajian, owner of Conroy’s South Coast.
LOVE TOKENS: While 47% of Americans say it with flowers today, 36% will pick jewelry, the American Florist Society reports. . . . A spokeswoman for Zales, the country’s largest retail jewelry store chain, says heart-shaped solitaire diamonds are the hottest sellers nationally, though Orange County buyers have a “contemporary taste for more gold, a bolder look, and deep-set diamonds.” Said a MainPlace / Santa Ana jewelry store manager: “Valentine’s Day is more appropriate to buy a smaller token of affection. . .although we do sell a lot of engagement rings.”
HEARTFELT: Some want nothing more from a Valentine than a good back rub, but at least you can get yours examined free today. . . . For the fourth year, Mission Viejo chiropractor Catherine Maloof, above, is offering the exams for those who donate five cans of food for Laguna Beach fire victims. “It is not so much good business,” her sister Maureen says, “as much as a goodwill thing.”
MOOD MUSIC: Valentine’s Day without love songs is like Christmas sans carols, so what do some Orange County radio stations guess today’s most popular tunes might be. . . ? At country KIKF in Orange, deejay Carrie Dunne predicted that “I Swear,” now at the top of the charts, will remain in demand during the request hour, while Anne Murray’s “Could I Have This Dance” is a perennial favorite. At Santa Ana’s KYMS, program director Greg Parkhurst believes he’s created the first nightly Christian “Heart Songs” program in the nation, adding: “ ‘I Will Be Here’ by Steven Curtis Chapman is probably the most requested right now.”
