Willie Jones stopped buying his wife roses years ago.

“She’s the type to say, ‘Don’t spend all that money on flowers. They ain’t gonna last that long,’” he said. “It’s been a while since I went all out.”

“All out” was never a bouquet of flowers. Jones won his wife over with a teddy bear. He placed a necklace with a diamond-heart pendant around its neck.

Jones said his wife still has that bear.

Nelda Lambert suggested last-minute shoppers buy a box of chocolates for their sweethearts. Chocolates were practically a tradition in her house.

“I always wanted a dozen roses,” she said. “My husband always got me candy.”

He broke from tradition one year and bought her a diamond ring. She said it was the best Valentine’s Day she ever had.

Bobbie Croswell, owner of Floral Boutique, has prepared for all of the last-minute shoppers. Orders lined every available surface in the downtown shop and the phone continued to ring with more orders for the busiest day of the florist’s year.

She and a staff of three worked until 8 p.m. Thursday night. They planned to start bright and early (at 6 a.m.) today.

Latecomers could still count on a delivery today.

“We’ve got some extra people on standby,” Croswell said.

John Register has been married for more than 30 years. He said the gifts he and his wife give each other never change. All he has ever given her was flowers and all she has ever given him was “a hard time,” he said with a chuckle.

Josh Hamm and his wife opt to celebrate a February wedding anniversary and skip the Valentine’s Day craze. But, it wasn’t always that way. Hamm said the best gift his wife ever gave him was a cookie cake.

Daniel Hussey was not sure what to get his loved one for the holiday.

“I suck at Valentine’s,” he said.

Madarious Goshea stood at the front counter of Floral Boutique with two gifts in hand, a balloon and flowers for his wife, Tiffany, and a teddy bear for his daughter, Angel. The gifts weren’t his only Valentine’s Day presents.

“I’ve got some other stuff planned. We’re going to Panama tomorrow,” he said.

There have been plenty of years where he waited until the last minute to buy a gift. This one wasn’t one of them.

Goshea said there was nothing wrong with those last-minute shoppers.

“It’s the thought that counts, as long as you show up with something,” he said. “If you show up empty-handed, it’s like you didn’t think of her at all.”