Canadians appear ready to shell out more this year to mark Valentine’s Day.
This includes a sharp increase in the number of people who are prepared to take their partner out to dinner to mark the occasion. Last year, about a third of us chose the ‘go out to a restaurant’ option. This year that is closer to half at 45 per cent.
Last year, two-thirds of us did something for Valentine’s with the range including buying flowers, chocolates or a card.
The Canadian story is quite consistent with what is being seen south of the border.
The National Retail Federation in the US expects one of the biggest spending years on record at $26 billion. We don’t have numbers in Canada, but we usually operate at 10 per cent of the US levels which would be $2.5 billion.
Saskatchewan is three per cent so we’ll likely drop in the neighborhood of $80 million to mark the day.
