by Raheela Nazir
ISLAMABAD, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- As they say, love is in the air, and so are the sales in Pakistan as the country witnessed a surge in sales of Valentine's Day-related items, including flowers, special gifts, cakes, food, chocolates, and teddy bears.
Strolling down the alleys of major markets of the cities, one can experience the delightful fragrance of anesthetically arranged flowers, especially red roses, capturing the attention of visitors with a mesmerizing view.
Talking to Xinhua, Muhammad Abbas, a flower vendor in the federal capital city of Islamabad, said that among all the other things, flowers are the best-selling product on Valentine's Day.
"Flowers symbolize love, affection and admiration. There is no better way to express gratitude to your loved ones than presenting them flowers and showing how much happiness and joy they bring you," he said, adding that the sales of flowers have increased many folds over the last two days.
"The sales of flowers are more than 40 percent higher this time, and people are happy to pay even more on special occasions than normal days," he said, adding that a bouquet, which is normally sold at around 400 to 500 rupees (1.44 to 1.8 U.S. dollars), is now being sold at around double of its price.
Beaming with happiness over his sales, Abbas said that not only vendors are earning on Valentine's Day, but local flower farmers are also earning a good amount of money owing to the high demand.
Jabbar Malik, an online florist, said his online sales saw a significant growth around this Valentine's Day, with decorated flowers, especially red roses, in strong demand.
"Valentine's Day is one of the biggest occasions for gifting, and most people prefer flowers for their loved ones," he said.
Other than flowers, online orders for Valentine's Day gifts, including special floral arrangements, romantic bouquets, delectable cakes, teddy bears, chocolates, festive balloons, and enchanting lights, have also skyrocketed.
Nighat Amin, a gift shop owner in eastern Rawalpindi city, said that a large number of people have visited her gift shop over the last few days, making substantial purchases as compared to other days of the year.
Not only the shop sales, Amin told Xinhua that online orders have also gone up over the several days, adding that people are becoming more creative as well as thoughtful when buying their gifts.
"We have a team that makes customized gifts according to the choices of our customers, who are ready to pay the asking price for our handmade customized gifts," she said.
On special occasions, restaurants and confectioneries also offer extraordinary discounts, prompting people to make their evenings even more fun-filled with delicious food and ambiance.
In a conversation with Xinhua, Khurram Khan, a restaurant owner in Islamabad, said that "as couples tend to choose romantic and peaceful evenings on this special day, our restaurant is all set to provide an ecstatic lifetime experience of fine dining to our customers."
"This year, we are expecting to receive more customers and make more profit due to high sales as compared to last year. We have spent more money on marketing this year, and we are already to see that sales are quite high," he added. ■
