Gidas Flowers meets students Valentine’s Day needs

Freshman David Hefelfinger stood in front of a shelf of flowers, utterly perplexed.

It was… Freshman David Hefelfinger stood in front of a shelf of flowers, utterly perplexed.

It was Valentine’s Day, and he was on the prowl for the floral combination that wouldn’t max out his $20 to $30 budget.

After some internal deliberation and help from one of the employees, Hefelfinger walked out after his first trip to Gidas Flowers, mixed bouquet in hand, with plans to meet his girlfriend for dinner.

Swarms of customers like Hefelfinger entered Gidas Flowers about an hour before the shop’s 6 p.m. closing time Tuesday afternoon to pick up last-minute Valentine’s Day gifts.

The brick flower shop, sandwiched between Veracruz Mexican Restaurant and GNC on Forbes Avenue, has everything one needs to express that fiery love, from the traditional dozen long- or short-stemmed roses to candles, stuffed animals and balloons.

Peter Gidas, 58, and son Jason Gidas, 30, represent the third and fourth generations of the shop’s ownership in the family. The Gidas family flower shop has provided flowers to the Pittsburgh community for more than 100 years.

“[Valentine’s Day] is the biggest single day of the year,” Peter said about the high-traffic his business receives on the holiday. “I’m most happy on Feb. 15.”

Gidas Flowers extended its normal store hours by an hour and a half on Monday and Tuesday evenings this week and also opened shop from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Sunday — when the shop is regularly closed — to prepare for the influx of seasonal customers.

Both father and son can remember having to sweep up the shop as kids and making their first deliveries.

Peter Gidas said that his grandfather originally opened a hat shop but made the switch to selling flowers in the early 1900s. Things have yet to change since then.

A collaboration of pleasurable scents pervades the shop’s compact arrangement from top to bottom, wafting throughout from flowers in pre-made bouquets and vases waiting to pique a customer’s interest.

Although the front of the shop is aesthetically pleasing, the real work happens in the back room in an assembly-line-like process.

Buckets filled with watered flowers surround a central working station where employees arrange phoned-in and emailed orders.

The flowers — in their simplest form, not yet ready for customer enjoyment — must be primped and rid of damaged petals before arrangement.

The shop’s back room remains stocked with various vases and colorful ribbon to add to arranged bouquets that will be wrapped in a thick white paper, readied for delivery.

“I remember the day we used to deliver ourselves,” Peter Gidas said, reminiscing about his long history with the shop.

Employees at Gidas Flowers still make some personal deliveries, but the company now uses a co-op service to help send out orders.

While Gidas Flowers might seem a bit crunched for space — with baskets and vases of flowers collected on shelving units throughout the store — the issue doesn’t seem to affect the work ethic or personable demeanor of the shop’s employees.

The florists exchanged smiles and jokes with each other as they rushed to complete their arrangements before the shop’s closing.

Jason said that Valentine’s Day doesn’t bring the year’s only rush for Gidas Flowers. Christmas, Mother’s Day and any Pitt graduation also bring in a crowd.

And two younger Gidas men might be in line to help out the father-son duo during the holiday bustle.

Peter joked that Jason’s two sons, aged 3 and 1, are the front-runners to take control of the fifth generation at Gidas Flowers — they just have to learn how to handle a broom first.