Mum's number one in the sun

Ritchie Davies, Tanya Koens, owners, Flowers by Tanya, a florist in Hastings, story about busy retailers on Mother's Day. Photo / Duncan Brown

Hawke's Bay loves mum according to dining and florist establishments.

All contacted by Hawke's Bay Today reported they had been busy. St Georges Restaurant in Hastings closed bookings on Wednesday and Breakers staff in Napier had the unenviable task of turning family groups away who had not booked.

Flowers by Tanya reported brisk trade but reported although Mother's Day was Sunday it made for an entire busy week for the Hastings florist.

"It has been quite spread out," co-owner Ritchie Davies said.

"Traditionally everyone wants delivery on Mother's Day but we started on Tuesday and have been delivering ever since and we have deliveries to come for Monday and Tuesday.

"I haven't done the final figures yet but we have certainly been busier than last year, so there has been a lot of love shown to a lot of yummy mums. It's been very cool.

"It's a lovely occasion for us, obviously florists deal with a lot of sad stories, so it is really nice having so many people send their love and best wishes."

He said flowers were only marginally more expensive on Mother's Day.

"It is a supply-and-demand thing at the flower auctions so they can be more expensive for us to buy.

"We don't raise our mark-up at all and I think we are pretty good value. We do a lot of our own growing."

Sunny skies also made city centres more popular on Saturday, continuing increased spending growth for the region.

Hawke's Bay topped the country for increased retail spending for December, January and February according to Paymark figures. In March it was second for year-on-year increase but regained first place over the Easter period.