Amory shops prepare for Valentine’s Day

AMORY, Miss. (WCBI) – Jewelry and flowers are synonymous with February 14.

In Amory, locally owned businesses are providing local customers the chance to shop the old fashioned way, at a hometown store.

Mike Tyree is the owner of Lisa’s Jewelry and Gifts, which opened in 1994.

“Seems like most of things we sell here at the jewelry store during Valentines is the pendants. The guys like to come in here and they want see something that has a little dangle to it. So the pendants seem to be the most popular thing that we sell during the holiday season of Valentines,” said Tyree. “We do some of the engagement rings and we have a nice variety engagement rings here at the store that guys can fit into their budget. That’s the most important thing we try to do here is fit things into their budget.”

Melissa Murphy is one of the owners of Amory Flowers and Gifts.  The store has been around for 28 years.

“Valentines Day is like the biggest day of the year because everything has to be delivered that day on the 14 and it’s very competitive in a small town. We have to compete with larger companies. As far as business goes we start getting busy on Tuesday and we prepare until Thursday. But really it’s a month long thing that you have to get ready for because we have to order all of our supplies and today I’m going to the airport to pick up all of our tropicals from Holland so we’ll be ready for you,” said Murphy.

Mainstreet in Amory reminds is reminiscent of the good old days when everybody came downtown to do their shopping. The businesses here have had to compete not only with the big chain stores, but also in recent years the internet.

“Our customers want to see what they’re getting and we have them made up already so they’re going to know what they’re going to receive, whereas on the internet when you’re clicking you’re not really sure what you’re going to get in.”

“We’re going to provide the service. When you send it back to the big box store or you send it back to somebody at Amazon you may or may not get back the same ring that you bought. You may get something completely different. But what we’re going to do here in order to compete with the big box store, we’re going to stand behind you 110-percent on everything that we do,” said Tyree.

You still have plenty of time to get something for that special someone. Valentines Day is not until Thursday.