Valentine Sunday a thorny day for Flowers.com

FLOWERS

In case you forgot, Sunday is Valentine's Day.

The people at 1-800-Flowers .com, the Garden City-based floral and gift retailer, sure didn't forget, although one industry analyst says they might wish they could.

"Valentine's Day is going to be difficult for them" because it's on a Sunday, said Eric Beder, who follows Flowers for the investment banking firm Brean Murray Carret & Co. in Manhattan. "Valentine's Day is a big day for sending gifts to the office," Beder said. "On Sunday a lot of people are not in the office." Also, Beder said, some delivery services charge more to drop off flowers and gifts on a Sunday.

Flowers, of course, realized this Valentine's Day might be tough, and so it has made some adjustments, said Joe Pititto, vice president for investor relations. Flowers is offering free shipping and no service charge from its Valentine's Day collection on items sent through Friday. "We planned for this," Pititto said, referring to Valentine's Day's falling on a Sunday.

Given the state of the economy, Flowers has not been expecting its finances to bloom just yet.

Founder and chief executive Jim McCann said in the company's most recent earnings report that guidance had been adjusted downward.

The company had expected revenues from continuing operations for fiscal 2010 to be flat to down 5 percent compared with the previous year.

Now, McCann said, such revenues are expected to be down 5 percent to 10 percent.

Flowers has sold its struggling Home and Children's Gift business and reduced debt. But investors don't yet smell a turnaround. Shares rose 2 cents to $1.88 Thursday, down from a 52-week high of $4.88 in September.

"They're doing the right things in terms of the operation, but the problem is everything they sell is discretionary," Beder said. "Right now, in this economy, consumers aren't rushing to buy discretionary products."