The staff at Draper Flower Pros is getting ready for the Valentine's Day rush. "Valentine's Day is definitely one of the busiest times of the year," shop owner James Belcher said, adding that things can get a little hectic at Mother's Day and Memorial Day as well. The shop gets through the busy times of the year thanks to a tight-knit, dedicated team of workers putting in a lot of hours.

The cooler at Draper Flower Pros holds hundreds of fresh flowers. (Katherine Weinstein/City Journals)

Draper Flower Pros is located at the intersection of 700 East and 12300 South in Draper. “There has been a flower shop at this location for about 20 years,” Sandy native Belcher said. “I’ve only owned it for about 10.”  He opened his first flower shop in Lehi in 2003. 

While he has taken some classes in floral design, Belcher explained that he learned his trade just by doing it, “like an apprentice,” he said. “I came to work at a florist shop and just learned.” 

Having grown up in Sandy, he was happy to take ownership of the shop in Draper. “I’ve watched this whole area change,” he said, recalling some of the old businesses that used to be nearby such as Frank’s Food Town, Draper Drug and Draper Bank and Trust. 

Belcher clearly loves his work. “I enjoy the creative outlet, it’s super fun and interesting,” he said. The social element is important too. “We’re all good friends here,” he added. “It’s like a family.” 

"We have a core group of employees that's been with us for a while," Belcher said. As Valentine’s Day approaches, Draper Flower Pros has five floral designers putting together arrangements in addition to five or six additional staff members taking orders and answering the phone. He usually hires a few new people at this time of year. “It’s a lot trickier, training new people and dealing with volume that you’re not used to in a couple of days,” he said.

In addition to people seeking bouquets and floral arrangements for Valentine's Day, high school students are placing orders for corsages and boutonnieres for the "sweetheart" dances held at this time of year. There is also ongoing demand for flowers for occasions such as weddings and funerals. Belcher explained that the key to managing all of this comes down to good communication and having a system in place to process orders. 

Having enough flowers, especially roses, is also essential. According to the Society of American Florists, roses make up 83% of all flowers sold on Valentine’s Day. “For a typical Valentine’s Day, I’ll order in 10,000 roses between both stores,” Belcher said. 

Red roses are the most popular flower for Valentine’s Day. (Katherine Weinstein/City Journals)

He added that sales might be down slightly this year because Valentine’s Day falls on a Saturday during Presidents’ Day weekend. “People will be out of town,” he explained. “They also like to send flowers to their loved one at work.” 

Approximately 250 million roses are produced annually for Valentine’s Day. The bulk of them are grown in South America. “Our flowers come from all over the world,” Belcher said. “A lot come from Ecuador and Colombia, also Holland and some from California.” 

Red roses are by far the most popular, but Draper Flower Pros sells a variety of colors. Different colors of roses have different symbolic meanings. Red, for example, symbolizes romantic love while yellow symbolizes friendship and joy and white can represent purity. Belcher noted that many people nowadays aren’t aware of the symbolism and choose colors based on personal taste. “A dozen peach roses can just be a beautiful gift,” he said.

While a dozen red roses is the most common Valentine’s Day request, arrangements featuring a variety of flowers are popular too. Floral designer Calli Veenendaal first went to work at Draper Flower Pros when she was in high school. “James taught me quite a bit, and I turned it into a job. I managed a shop in Idaho for a while,” she said. 

Draper Flower Pros is known in the community for its sign inviting people with a particular name to come in for a free flower. (Katherine Weinstein/City Journals)

Veenendaal enjoys the creativity of her job most of all. “My favorite is doing weddings,” she said, explaining that a client might give her a color palette or descriptive word like “elegant” or “whimsical” to inspire the floral arrangements for the wedding. “Sometimes they have a specific vision,” Veenendaal said. “We can do just about everything creatively.” 

She mentioned that during the Valentine’s Day crunch, she gets to work at 7 a.m. and stays until 6 or 7 p.m. “It’s physically taxing, you’re on your feet all day,” Veenendaal said, adding that working with flowers is hard on the hands and fingernails. “But I wouldn’t change jobs for anything,” she said. 

Draper Flower Pros is known to many in the Draper community for its sign inviting people with a specific name to come in for a free flower. Belcher explained that he saw a similar sign at a florist shop in Utah County years ago. “I always wanted to do that,” he said. “It’s a great way to get people into the store. Sometimes they buy something else. Little children get so excited—it’s a lot of fun.” 

Belcher said that the names put up on the sign come from customers. “They can write a name down and put it in a jar,” he said. Some of the more unusual names posted on the sign come from customers requesting the name of a loved one for a specific date. “If you want your daughter’s name on the sign for her birthday, you can do that,” he said. 

In addition to flowers and floral arrangements, Draper Flower Pros sells houseplants and gifts, including Jelly Cats plush animals. The shop is located at 12288 S. 700 East. For more information and to place an order, visit utahdraperflowerpro.com.