CHARLOTTE, N.C. — As many businesses recover from the pandemic, a local florist in Charlotte says she’s seeing consumer confidence going up.

This, she noticed ahead of one of her busiest holidays, Valentine’s Day.

Giovy Buyers owns Southern Blossom Florist off of East Blvd.

“People’s confidence on shopping is still, you know, picking up,” Buyers said. “So we actually been doing a lot of events, and you know, weddings and corporate events and also, you know, just the everyday flowers we are doing.”

Buyers says she stayed busy getting orders ready for Valentine’s Day, even renting out an extra warehouse just to prepare.

The Conference Board, a global nonprofit, found U.S. consumer confidence dropped a little in January, but it remains above the level seen during last July, when it was at its lowest for 2022.

Last year, because of supply chain issues, she says many florists faced shortages from the supply chain.

This year — she says it’s the shortage of workers.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce says right now, there are still too many jobs without people to fill them.

For Buyers, she says she’s seeing interest in people calling about work, but her industry requires a very specialized skill set.

“So, it’s hard for us to find, you know, people with experience,” Buyers said. “I mean, we get so many calls or requests about people wanting to work in the flower shop because it’s, you know, fun and it’s creative, it’s beautiful you know, but a lot of them, you know, they don’t have the skills.”

While she’s still facing a worker shortage, she says business isn’t slowing down. But that can be one of the best problems to have as a small business owner.

“I have another big event coming up in April that we probably gonna be renting that space again and then for Mother’s Day, we’re probably gonna be renting again,” Buyers said.