Stacie Lee Banks and the team at Lee’s Flower Shop are working around the clock to fulfill walk-in and online orders during one of their busiest times of the year.
Mother’s Day is just days away on Sunday, May 12. However, the team is also preparing special arrangements for graduations this weekend at Howard University and the University of the District of Columbia. They are also geared up to fulfill the continuous orders for corsages and boutonnieres, the traditional prom season accessory, which is also in demand.
“It’s a very busy season for us,” said Lee Banks, the third-generation co-owner of the 79-year-old flower shop located at 1026 U Street NW in the historic Shaw neighborhood.
In addition to adding staff, Lee Banks and her sister, Kristie Lee Jones, said they are focused on selecting the right flowers and plants to have on hand for customers.
“Trying to pick those things that people will like is quite a challenge, but we do it every year, and every year, it sneaks up on us,” Lee Banks said.
Mother’s Day Consumer Spending Remains High
Flowers and cards rank highest among the gifts mothers receive on the holiday created in their honor more than 100 years ago in 1904. The day became a national holiday, celebrated on the second Sunday in May when President Woodrow Wilson signed Mother’s Day into law in 1914. Mother’s Day has also become one of the biggest holidays for consumer spending.
According to the National Retail Foundation, Americans are expected to spend $33.5 billion on Mother’s Day this year, which amounts to approximately $254 per person. That includes about 152 million cards purchased and millions of brunches or dinners spent at a favorite restaurant.
Early on, carnations were the standard for Mother’s Day. Mothers wore red carnations if their mother was living and white if she was deceased.
At Lee’s, carnations have fallen out of favor, Lee Banks said. “People think of them as being inexpensive, but we still order them for the churches that still give them out.”
Speaking of traditions, “corsages used to be a big thing on Mother’s Day,” Lee Banks said, “and we used to get a lot of orders for them. But trends change, and today, I can’t identify one thing that takes precedence over another, except for the uptick of online orders.”
A Flower That’s Never Out of Style
Banks told The Informer that roses rank the highest among the flowers ordered for Mother’s Day.
“It’s a traditional flower that never goes out of style,” she explained.
A survey conducted by the Pantone Color Institute honoring the shades of motherhood defined feelings of motherhood by color. The survey said, “Green represents the protective nature of mothers, while yellow alludes to their optimistic outlook towards life and for their children. Pink captures their compassionate and nurturing side, and red focuses on their passion and empowerment drive. At the same time, they are always calm and patient, which is represented by the color blue.”
With all the shades to symbolize feelings, Lee Banks’ orders vary for Mother’s Day arrangements. She said customers will spend anywhere from $100 to $125 on a Mother’s Day arrangement.
Ironically, Banks, the mother of two adult daughters and a 4-month-old grandchild, said she does not receive flowers for Mother’s Day, but it’s not a concern for her. Their doors are open on Mother’s Day. She and her daughter, Samarah Banks, who operates their Union Station store, spend the day together, ensuring everyone gets their flowers.
“As a florist, our customers are our priority,” she said.
Reflecting on a Mother’s Love, Legacy
As her mother operates the U Street store, and she manages the bustling Union Station location, Banks told The Informer this Mother’s Day season is particularly special, as she gets to share it not only with her mom, but also her baby girl Khloe..
“My first Mother’s Day is really special to me because I have my daughter in the shop with me. And so there’ll be three generations in the shop — my mother, me and my daughter. That’s gonna be exciting because we all started off very young and the flower shop and she can literally start at four months. So I think that’s beautiful,” Banks told The Informer.
Banks said she’s learned a lot about balancing motherhood and business by watching her mom.
“Having an entrepreneur, business owner, boss lady as a mom is really awesome to me, and I aspire to be just like her,” Banks said. “She’s just taught me so much about business — everything I know, honestly, I owe it to her.”
Passing down tricks of the trade from generation to generation, such as staying on top of holidays and trends, is important to the Lee’s Flower Shop family.
“It’s a couple of things that my great-grandmother passed down to my grandfather and my grandmother, which they passed to my mother and she passed down to me,” Banks explained. “One of those things, most importantly, is to pay all bills on time… pay your vendors on time, keep the relationships pure. And another thing, treat everyone with respect, you never know who you’re talking to.”