Mother’s Day business strong, area firms, restaurants report

Economic indicators might be pointing in the wrong direction and 401(k)s might be lighter than a year ago, but forgetting mom on Mother's Day tomorrow could really make things difficult for some.

Fortunately, businesses and restaurants around the Richmond area say business is strong, as many try to stay out of the doghouse.

"It's been as good as I expected," said Steve Papoulakos, president of Vogue Flowers & Gifts.

"I was optimistic, but things have been really good so far."

He said the week before Mother's Day is the busiest of the year, with his business jumping as much as 700 percent.

Papoulakos operates two Vogue Flowers stores and two The Flower Market locations. He said sales are running even with last year.

To capitalize on the holiday, he has been keeping stores open later all week and is opening all his stores tomorrow.

Mother's Day is the third-largest holiday for retailers, trailing only the Christmas holiday and the back-to-school season, according to the National Retail Federation.

The trade group found that people spent $15.8 billion on moms last year. Valentine's Day brought in $14.7 billion. Spending topped $447.5 billion during the Christmas season.

But the group expects the economy will push spending down this year.

In its Mother's Day Consumer Intentions and Actions Survey, the group predicts shoppers will spend $14.1 billion this year, with shoppers spending an average of $123.89 per person, about $15 less per person than last year.

About $2.3 billion will be spent on jewelry, according to the survey.

Rick Santackas, manager of the Schwarzschild Jewelers at Short Pump Town Center, said he has seen about a 10 percent increase in business leading up to Mother's Day.

"It's been busy and improving every week," he said. Stantackas believes shoppers are coming back out because they feel better about the state of the economy.

"We have felt a turn around since Valentine's Day. People are just getting more comfortable," he said. He added that the chain's two other stores are also doing well.

But not everyone was full of hope leading up to Mother's Day.

"I was actually pretty skeptical at the beginning of the week," said Jennifer King, assistant restaurant manager at the Holiday Inn at Koger South Conference Center off Midlothian Turnpike in Chesterfield County.

The hotel serves an annual Mother's Day buffet that normally brings about 800 people.

The retail federation survey found that 54.8 percent of consumers plan to take their mothers to dinner or brunch, spending about $2.7 billion in the process. But last Monday morning, King said the restaurant had only about 100 reservations.

She said the restaurant was getting a lot of calls from people asking about prices and what they were serving, leading her to believe that people were shopping. "We were starting to worry," she said.

By the end of the week, though, a relieved King said they had 500 reservations for tomorrow, and expected approximately 100 more to also dine there.

While less than usual, King said she's satisfied, given the economy.

At The Jefferson Hotel in downtown Richmond, it's an entirely different story.

The hotel sold out its annual Mother's Day brunch a month ago. The hotel expects to feed as many as 800 people tomorrow.

Joseph Longo, managing director of The Jefferson, said the hotel usually sells out the brunch.

"It's very similar to all the major holidays," he said.

Contact Louis Llovio at (804) 649-6348 or .