Villere (right) started the company when he was only 19.
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n a 2016 Retail and Marketing Association survey, 53 percent of women respondents said they would end their relationship if they didn’t get something for Valentine’s Day. So get the candy hearts, champagne flutes, chocolate-filled hearts, glittery bling, candlelit dinners and roses, roses, roses because it’s Valentine’s Day! In the United States, this day of starryeyed bliss is a $13 billion industry, with the average consumer spending $163 on their true love; a big part of that amount is spent on flowers. Domestically, $403 million is spent on flowers, and an annual 198 million roses are produced for just this romantic holiday alone. Those that don’t have a significant other, but love flowers, are not alone. Six percent of men and 14 percent of women buy flowers for themselves. In total, 25 percent of adults buy flowers or plants for Valentine’s Day, making flowers the fourth-most purchased Valentine’s Day gift after candy, cards and dining out.
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february 2017 BizNewOrleans.com
“Valentine’s is our biggest day,” said Roger Villere Jr., owner of Villere’s Florist, a family-owned floral business. “Mother’s Day is our biggest week, and Christmas is our biggest month.” There is no doubt how big this holiday is for this family-owned business. Villere needs to rent two additional refrigerator trucks to hold inventory, he hires police to keep traffic flowing around their Metairie location on Martin Berman Avenue, and adds 100 more workers and 45 more delivery drivers to create and deliver all the floral gifts of romantic passion. “That week we work from 6 a.m. to midnight,” he said. “And yet it’s not a very profitable day. It’s a lot of gross but very little net, not even close, but we love doing it. We always go the extra mile to make our clients happy.” Villere’s Florist started in 1969. Villere was 19 years old and Donna, his wife, was 18. The couple married in April and used money received as wedding gifts to get their floral business off the ground. “The first year we grossed $14,000,” he
said. “It took us five years to make enough money to pay us a salary. It was $25 per week, then $50, then $75 and so on.” Now the business makes more than $3 million per year and is rated one of the top 100 f lorists in the country by Telef lora Florist. “In my day, the dream was to be a stay-at home-mom,” said Donna Villere. “I did help out as much as I could when we started, and I was proud to have my husband take such good care of our family. The world has changed since then and I am very happy that this business offered me so much. I could work and still be there for my children. I am very happy we started this business.” Roger Villere’s love of plants began at an early age, and he shared it with his grandparents, who always had large gardens. In particular, he learned from his grandmother: “She could take a pencil, put it in the ground and it would grow.” When he was in seventh grade, Villere began growing orchids, which he sold to local florists. In high school he worked at Photos courtesy of Villere Florist and Jeff Johnston