COMPETITION: East Lancashire's hopeless romantics (From Lancashire Telegraph)

COMPETITION: East Lancashire's hopeless romantics

11:40am Thursday 14th February 2013 in News By Simone Yates

LADIES, if you’re hoping to be whisked off your feet by a whirlwind of romance today then think again.

According to the majority of local traders, almost all husbands, boyfriends and fiances are unorganised when it comes to buying presents for their special lady on Valentines Day.

So, if you think your loved one is on the ball, take a look at the following experiences and you may find that it’s possibly quite the opposite...

Michelle Fielding, florist at LeRainforest on Blackburn Market, said:

“We very rarely get orders in advance for Valentine’s Day from men who want to send their ladies flowers. Last year it was chaos and we had to make two trips to the suppliers during the day because of how busy we were.

“Men made queues around the market stall. Funnily they were panicking and asking for ‘whatever’. At the end of the day we were putting together whatever we could and although they were still beautiful flowers, it was very last minute. From my experience men tend to be very unorganised so I would advise them to order early.”

Anita Stevenson, manager at Ann Summers said:

“We have launched the Drop A Hint app, where women can chose what they want in the correct size and we will then email their partners to do the rest.

“In the past we have had flustered men coming into the shop on Valentine’s Day, just as we are about to close. Even though we have offered advice, you can always guarantee that he will buy the wrong size and the wrong colour. Men always want to buy something red too and their wives and girlfriends don’t like it so we always end up with lots of returns. Luckily we have trained staff that will try and make these last-minute buys as painless as possible!”

Ramon Shafi, manager at Thornton’s said:

“There is no excuse for men to be getting into a frenzy, but they do year after year. Valentine’s Day seems to be like a mini Christmas for them. Luckily with good advertising we have had men coming in early.

“They are happy to come in and buy a gift-wrapped box of chocolates at a good price and give them as a gift. It has got better over time because the displays are out there and men are being reminded sooner. It has been known some men wait until the 15th or 16th to buy chocolates in the sale.”

Jay Kang, manager at Chris Shan Jeweller said:

“We have a lot of men coming in at this time of year – it’s just normal for them to come and buy an item of jewellery. We ask them if their wife likes white or yellow gold and the majority of the time they don’t know.

“Men are not that romantic in Blackburn and they will often say ‘that’ll do’. Sometimes we have been closing and men have left the gifts to the very last minute and we are pulling down the shutters!”

COMPETITION

Did Valentine’s Day turn out to be one to forget rather than a memorable experience?

We’ve teamed up with The Mall in Blackburn to help one East Lancashire woman get over a Valentine’s Day disaster.
If your special meal out turns out to be a takeaway kebab or your romantic gift is a new washing up bowl we want to hear about it.

Let us know why Valentine’s Day turned out to be a disaster by filling in the form and you could win a fantastic prize.

The winner, as judged by our panel of judges, will receive a £150 Mall Gift Card, flowers from Stems Florists, chocolates, a bottle of bubbly a special Valentine's cookie from Millie’s Cookies and a Valentine's teddy bear.

Answer the following...

Valentine’s Day was a disaster because... (In no more than 20 words)

Return your entries to: Valentine’s Competition, Lancashire Telegraph, High Street, Blackburn, BB1 1HT.

Or email: john.anson@nqnw.co.uk

Closing date is 5pm on Thursday, February 21

By entering you agree that your story may feature in the Lancashire Telegraph and that you are willing to be photographed. Employees of Newsquest (North West) and The Mall are not eligible to enter. There are no cash equivalents and the judge’s decision is final. No correspondence will be entered into.

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