Stores in Oman get Valentine’s Day sales boost

Muscat: It’s once again that time of the year when everything around is wrapped in glittering red. Yes, it’s the Valentines’ Day, and jewellery stores, flower shops, hotels, restaurants and spas are all witnessing seasonal sales.
Najeeb K, marketing manager at Malabar Gold, said their Valentine’s Day offer elicited a good response. “We had a special offer for Valentine’s Day season, from February 1 to 14, featuring 28 custom designs of pendants with chains.With every purchase, we offered customers a nice watch for free. “We have 12 branches all over Oman and eight of them are in Muscat. We received a good response to the offer.”
Not just jewellery stores but hotels, restaurants and flower shops also did brisk business on this festival of love. A salesman at Bella La Rose, a popular flower store in Qurum, said the sales were going well but not better than last year. “While many customers are buying lots of nice flowers, bouquets and gifts but the sales last year were much better.”
A restaurant in Qurum offered a special candlelit dinner and was almost full. “We received many enquiries throughout the day and a lot of bookings were made. We were almost full by evening. So yes, we did much better than on any ordinary weekday and people were really happy by the end of it because of the wonderful theme that we had arranged for them. “However, I remember that we did better than this last year. However, this wasn’t bad either. It is only a one day thing and it was okay for us.”
A flower shop in Ruwi also witnessed good sales. “We received many advance bookings from customers who asked for red rose bouquets because of Valentine’s Day. We made sure that we had lots of red roses for the day because we expected walk in customers as well.”
Vandana, a newly married Indian expat in Oman, said she was looking forward to the occasion. “It’s my first year celebrating Valentine’s Day, and I married just six months ago. So, I really wanted it to be special.
“In the morning, I received a lovely bouquet of flowers from my husband while we went to a nice restaurant for dinner later in the evening. I also received a diamond pendant as a present yesterday. No doubt, it went pretty well for me.”