'Almost chaotic': Flower Shop powers through busiest time of the year

BEATRICE - Valentine’s Day at a local flower shop can be summed up in a simple way.

“Extremely busy,” Burt Searcey, co-owner of The Flower Shop in Beatrice, said.

Burt Searcey, and his wife Cindy, have owned  "The Flower Shop" in Beatrice for nearly eight years, and there’s never a week quite like the one that includes Valentine’s Day.

“It’s almost chaotic,” Searcey said. “We do our best to take care of everybody, we’ve done that so far, but it’s like doing a week’s worth of work in one or two days.”

Searcey tells News Channel Nebraska Valentine’s Day week is a kick off to the flower season, with Mother’s Day and Memorial Day on the horizon, ahead of the spring and summer flower season.

“This is the number one weekend or holiday season we have,” Searcey said. “It gets us warmed up and ready to go for spring.”

A challenge thrown the way of flower shops in the midwest around Valentine’s Day is having enough available product at a time when much of the country isn’t in growing season. Searcey explains the process.

“We actually start ordering precuts months ahead, and I’m talking 3-4 months ahead, the product has to be ordered to ensure that you have what you need,” Searcey said. “The product starts coming in a few days ahead of Valentine’s Day and then all that product requires cleaning. It’s a lot of work to getting the flowers ready.”

The Searcey's are now working their seventh Valentine’s Day as owners of The Flower Shop. As a family-owned business, Burt says they’ve learned a few things along the way.

“You’re going to be busy, you need to have patience, but we try to be very professional and give people the best product that we can,”