SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — Every year, Americans spend billions on Valentine’s Day. Here in San Diego, the Little House of Flowers in Point Loma is blooming with hundreds of orders for the day of love.
"We started the shop on Friar's back in August of 2018, and we've been here at this location for about three and a half years," says Auburn Rodriguez, the senior designer at the flower shop.
Over the years, they’ve seen prices for flowers skyrocket.
"I’ve been in the industry for about 20 years, and I've seen so many changes with the clientele, types of flowers, trends, and the cost of flowers -- which has gone up significantly," Rodriguez says.
It's one of the busiest days of the year for the local flower shop, but the possibility of potential tariffs sits in the back of their minds with more big events and celebrations ahead.
"It's scary, and who knows what the prices will be like in a few months or in the summer?" Rodriguez says.
That's because the shop imports a lot of their flowers.
"We primarily get our flowers from South America, but we get them all over: The U.S. Canada, Hawaii, all over the place," she says.
But those include some places that President Donald Trump has sought to slap tariffs on.
Shortly after taking office, the president ordered tariffs on Mexico and Canada, which are also two major suppliers of fresh flowers. He initially imposed a 25% tariff on products from those two countries but then agreed to pause those for 30 days.
The deadline is looming next month.
Even wholesale vendors within the U.S. this shop works with could be impacted, possibly driving up costs for them and their customers.
"So we kind of have to make a little bit of a disclaimer when we have clients and let them know that the prices could potentially go up, and that's out of our control, unfortunately," Rodriguez says.
But this small business tells me they’re focused on quality and maintaining long-lasting relationships with those who come through their doors.
"We try to do what we can. Sometimes, we might not make a huge profit margin, but it's worth it to us to keep our loyal customers and to just be able to spread the beauty of flowers," Rodriguez says.
