From Monitor
As surprising as it may seem, Yes – love costs money. Starting from February 14, Valentine’s Day in Albania, like any “imported” holiday, has taken a different form, an Albanian couple no longer spends this day only with a rose. The bill has increased so much that it costs less to be “single”. According to a calculation of all the sectors where the attention of couples’ gifts is more focused, February 14 costs an average of 300 euros.
Around the globe, February 14 has always been more special than any other day of the same month. Almost everyone knows Valentine’s Day – as a holiday for love.
However, for a long time, the celebration of Valentine’s Day has always been associated with capitalism.
Very few men will dare to appear without red roses, which now cost twice as much as on a normal day – not if they want to keep their relationship “alive”. Demands for restaurants have also been high this year.
Forget just the walks from Lake Tirana. According to the businesses, it is advisable to book at least a week in advance if you want a good restaurant and a personalized menu. The choices are varied. In addition to flowers, sweets, a dinner in a restaurant in the capital or abroad, then comes the gift. It covers many sectors, starting from personal care, to clothing, travel, a voucher to spend somewhere, jewelry, etc. Women are the most privileged, but there are also gifts for men.
Flowers remain the king of Valentine requests. It’s almost an annual occurrence for flowers to go up in price weeks or days before Valentine’s Day. Last year, the price of flowers sold in some flower shops increased by almost 50 percent in the run-up to Valentine’s Day.
Stela Kordalli from the Lujon Flower shop says that marketing started a week ago on social networks and love-themed compositions have dominated. The demand for them is high and the average price is 3000 ALL/bouquet. The most expensive bouquet of recent years is reported to be a bunch of red roses at the price of 1000 euros.
Ms. Kordalli claims that the preparations started after February 10, offering other accessories besides flowers such as bears, trumpets, cards, etc. Demands and purchases, according to her, were higher than in the last two years.
While another sector that has received attention on this day, that of perfumes, results in higher sales than clothing. From the perfumery in the COIN center, they claim that last week there was an increase in demand for women’s perfumes mainly, but without leaving behind also gifts for men, an increase which they single out as higher than last year.
When contacted by Monitor, the sales representatives of “AltinBas” jewelry in Bllok indicate that there were many promotions and price reductions on the occasion of the holiday of love and this year the purchases were somewhat better than previous years, however, according to them, expensive gifts have started to be less attractive.
Numerous offers began to “bombard” social networks as well as advertisements on various televisions, for the way a couple should spend Valentine’s Day. In addition to a meal in a restaurant, the packages this year also offered personalized live music at the table or even sleeping in the case of a hotel or resort, making this form of holiday spending attractive. Restaurants, mainly on the coast, offer packages starting from 100 euros per person to spend a romantic night at the hotel.
Personal care is thought to occupy a very important place in women’s spending, and every holiday, like February 14, proves this. There have been many requests to give such a gift to the partner this year. The representative of “Tutte Estetica” in the capital affirms that this year, when they created the packages for Saint Valentine, they thought of offering a wide range of services: spa, massages, treatments and aesthetic changes, in order to have wide interest.
For several years, also in other centers of the beauty and Spa sector, packages are offered in pairs, or even customized for men. Demands for such packages have been increasing for years, dispelling the myth of common gifts for men. Packages start from 4000 ALL per person or 6000 ALL per couple. The leaders of these centers claim that this is not the only gift they give each other.
As a new and very fashionable service in recent years, photography has also started to be used as a gift for Valentine’s Day. One of the partners gives a gift to the other or to the couple a professional photography service. This service has been so requested in recent years, that Ciak Shop claims that for about 4 years, every February they change the accessories or the scenography of the studio. Jonida Thomaj, manager of the studio, says that party packages are customized and offered at prices ranging from 6,500-10,000 ALL, depending on the scenography and the number of participants (in the case of a family). According to her, Albanians have not stopped giving personalized gifts over the years, especially young people. Stamping a photo, a cup, a frame, an engraving, etc., a gift which costs about 2500 ALL. According to Jonida, women are more inclined to give such gifts or book a photo shoot.
Even for Valentine, trips have been in demand. There have been offers from various agencies in the country and requests have been mainly focused on nearby destinations, perfect for a weekend break, with demand for Italy dominating. Although increased access to technology has made measuring trips more difficult because most are done individually. The region is highly preferred, as agency arrangements, taking into consideration advance bookings from the data of the three agencies in the capital. Also, the demands for Paris and Barcelona have been high.
Does your partner want you to tell him on February 14th that there is still room for improvement? There are those who give gym coupons for Valentine’s Day. Some gyms in the capital indicate that they have had booking flows before the week of February 14. This also coincided with the usual period of bookings that prepare for the summer season. However, they report high sales of gym membership coupons as gifts for women. The price of such a coupon varies from 3500-6500 ALL per month.
This year, the surgical services have been amazing. Have you ever thought about getting a nose or lip job for Valentine’s Day? In some clinics in the capital, there have been promotional packages such as 150 euro/lip filler that has attracted attention to be considered as a gift of love. Or the offer for laser services, which apparently is aesthetically appreciated by the couple. Even the demand for hair transplantation for men.
Selections change when couples are married or cohabiting for years. According to research, an interesting offer has been highly selected for this Valentine’s Day: professional house cleaning services. Apparently, women would appreciate this more than a bunch of roses. From the “Help Plus” agency, they show that the voucher worth 6,000 ALL/professional cleaning of the house was in great demand, especially on the weekend before February 14.
Research / Analysis of social media data using “Valentine’s Day” as a keyword shows that the most related term was “shop” and “gift” identified 131.17% more often than the term “love”.
In the world/ According to Euromonitor International, online sales are expected to reach the highest levels in recent years in February 2024./Monitor
