Needham Florist forced to close over Valentine’s Day after employee tests positive for COVID-19

NEEDHAM, Mass. — A Needham florist is forced to close over Valentine’s Day after a seasonal employee tested positive for COVID-19.

Julie Ben-David, who owns Needham Florist with her husband, told Boston 25 News Friday the two-week closure is “devastating.”

“It’s been a really hard year for everybody,” an emotional Ben-David said. “And now, I feel like I’m ruining everybody’s Valentine’s by calling and saying, ‘Sorry, now you can’t get flowers that you’ve already ordered, and your loved ones are now expecting them.’”

Ben-David and her husband spent hours Friday calling customers and refunding hundreds of orders, she said.

Immediately after learning about their employee’s positive test, the couple called all workers and asked them to stay home and get tested, Ben-David said. While they initially considered staying open with just the two of them running the shop, they ultimately decided the safest option would be to close, she said.

“For me, it’s not even the financial [aspect],” Ben-David said. “I care more about the customers, their health, everybody’s well-being, and I just want to do what is right.”

But the closure is a big financial blow after an already difficult year weathering the coronavirus pandemic. Valentine’s Day is the shop’s second-most profitable holiday, following Mother’s Day, Ben-David said.

“It’s been a challenge with no weddings and graduations and proms and recitals and bar mitzvahs and corporate events and bat mitzvahs and parties of all kinds,” Ben-David said. “Everything’s been tough.”

But the support from the community has been overwhelming, she said. Loyal customers have helped keep the shop open over the past year.

On Friday, other local businesses offered to sell Ben-David’s flowers at their shops so they could recover some of their losses. Ben-David also considered donating all the arrangements. But she isn’t sure either option is safe or that people would feel comfortable receiving the flowers.

“I have thousands and thousands and thousands of flowers,” Ben-David said. “And I’m going to have to bring them all to the dumpster, I guess.”

Download the free Boston 25 News app for up-to-the-minute push alerts