War of the roses: Online vs. local

SOUTH HADLEY, Mass. (WWLP) - As we approach Valentine's Day, many men are torn between buying roses online or at a nearby florist.

Seth Carey, the manager of Carey's Flowers in South Hadley, claims that people who will buy roses online are gambling on getting exactly what they think they're getting. Carey told 22News it's not like buying roses at a neighborhood florist.

“A lot of times it's shipped in a box, the flowers are dry, they're not in water, they're not in a kind of preservative to help hydrate the flowers, and the individual has to arrange them themselves,” Carey said.

Carey told 22News that he charges $75 for a dozen stemmed roses. Online, it's cheaper, $29 for a dozen, but you have to add-on costs, like paying for the bowl. Carey claims buying online or buying from a flower shop is often the difference of the roses lasting one week or just one day.

22News was in downtown Greenfield where we asked guys where they would buy roses for their valentine: online or at a florist?

“I would go to the store,” Jim Louden of Greenfield said. “I've always done that. I feel more comfortable that way.”

“You can see what you're buying, you know what you're buying, you're not looking at a picture,” Richard Lacosse of Turners Falls said.

Lance Smith of South Deerfield told 22News that he likes the convenience of using an online service to send flowers to someone from out of town. “When I get to the point of making a decision, I realize I wasn't supporting local florists,” Smith said.

Seth Carey told 22News that he would hope more people recognize the differences between buying their roses online or at the flower store, because during the past few years many florists across the country have gone out of business.