Saying ‘I love you’ with cards

Some residents in Lagos are thronging spas, saloons and malls to prepare themselves for the celebration of this year’s Valentine’s Day, the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports.

St. Valentine’s Day, also known as Lovers Day, is observed on Feb. 14 of every year in many countries around the world, although it is not a public holiday in many.

It is a time celebrants express their love for each other through exchange of gifts, wining and dining at restaurants, trips to exotic locations and spending quality time together.

This year’s St. Valentine’s Day holds on Sunday.

Checks by NAN revealed that body massage parlours, beauty products, sex toys, hair extension, lingerie’s, perfumes, wines and chocolates were the most patronised items.

A cross section of entrepreneurs of these outfits, who spoke to NAN, said that patronage of products and services had increased in the last three days.

Mrs Farida Sobowale, Chief Executive Officer of House of Phreedah, Surulere, Lagos, said that pre-order calls to her spa for massage had been impressive.

“Beauty is all about looking good. Economic downturn does not really affect it because most women will rather starve than to be caught looking ugly or aged.

“As at today, I have 19 clients that have booked for facials and massage for Sunday; that has been the usual daily occurrence at Phreedah.

“I owe my large client base to affordable prices of my beauty and sex products which are in high demand by women in my four outlets in Lagos,” Sobowale said

Mrs Adetanwa Adepoju, the Managing Director, Hairworld Beauty Place in Ikeja, said that more clients had visited her saloon for various hairdos.

“Most ladies are now learning to be frugal in their spending; they targeted this week for the change of hairstyles.

“They invest more in human hair that are more durable and most men have caught up with the trend because there had been increased order for hair extensions as gifts for this season,” Adepoju said.

Mr Oluwaseun Oke, the Managing Director, Da Cakes Master Studio, Surulere, Lagos, however, said that economic downturn had affected the business of bakers.

“Clients are no more spending to get the best as before.

“The level of patronage for cake is low compared to the previous year.

“Price of inputs that we use for the cake have increased because of the naira to dollar exchange rate, so orders from clients have dropped due to this and our business has been affected.

“Before, we have Valentine’s cake ranging from N3,000 to N15,000, but now that has changed.

“Because of the situation, I did not bother to even advertise Valentine’s cakes due to high cost of materials in the market.”

NAN reports that Valentine’s Day symbols observed in some of the shops and malls visited include the heart-shaped outline, doves and the symbol of winged cupid.