Thursday was no ordinary business day for Bill Albritton, owner of Albritton’s Flowers. Thursday was the first half of the two-day florists Super Bowl known as Valentine’s Day.

“We get a lot of orders today, but we will definitely get a lot of orders Friday, too,” Albritton said Thursday. “Because people will forget and they’ll think they can just walk in and we just have laying around.”

Thursday afternoon, Albritton was busy handcrafting a cut flower arrangement for a walk-in customer who liked a similar arrangement made for another order in the shop, but for the most part Albritton said red roses are still the flower of choice for the season’s shoppers.

“Roses are traditional and they just express love, so those always sell,” Albritton said. “But things like tulips and hydrangeas have gotten popular too over the past several years.”

Albritton said his store began stocking up on greenery for arrangements weeks ago, and got a shipment of flowers earlier this week, and despite the hectic nature of the work around Valentine’s Day, he doesn’t resent the busy atmosphere.

“You look forward to it because it is busy and good for business, but it is always really hectic,” Albritton said. “We probably won’t ever go to bed tonight, but we’ll be here ready for the onslaught at 8 in the morning.”

Kimberly Williams, owner of Kustom Kreations Floral & Gift Shop on North Broad Street in Selma, said the last-minute shoppers have lead to a boom in business for her store.

“It’s been real busy this week,” Williams said. “It’s actually been so busy that we’ve had to hire extra people to come in and help us fill these orders.”

Similar to what Albritton had been seeing at his store, Williams said it was traditional items that were popular.

“The flower sales have been huge this week, as well as the gift baskets and jewelry,” Williams said.