Getting ready for mom

There might not be a lot in the bank account these days, but many Yuba-Sutter area business owners don't believe Mother's Day will be any less busy than another year.

After all, they said, this is mom we're talking about.

"Remember, she put up with you for at least 18-plus years," Kevin DeHoff, owner of The Country Florist in Linda, said with a laugh.

DeHoff said that as of mid-week, his pre-orders of bouquets and other floral arrangements for Mother's Day were on pace with last year, with a notable surge in online orders.

Restaurants with Mother's Day events said they're also confident Sunday will be busy, while they acknowledged that traffic has been slower than normal much of the time.

John Hammell, general manager at the Dancing Tomato Caffe in Yuba City, said that if customers are eating out less often, then Mother's Day almost gives them an excuse to splurge.

"Valentine's Day was busier than we expected," he said, as proof of his theory. "And Valentine's Day and Mother's Day compete to be the busiest days of the year for us."

Dancing Tomato will have a special menu Sunday that includes a crab omelet and blintzes, and also will give away a necklace, Hammell said.

At City Cafe in Yuba City, advance reservations for a special Mother's Day dinner menu were running slow, said owner Jeff Boutilier.

But he said he wasn't concerned, because many reservations often come in close to the day itself.

"I find that for some, this is a sort of holiday that they save up for it," he said, adding that like Dancing Tomato, Mother's Day is one of his restaurant's busiest days.

Retailers who rely on Mother's Day in a different way said they also hadn't noticed a decline in pre-orders or interest so far.

But DeHoff, at The Country Florist, said he had noticed some changes in consumer behavior.

"I think they're more price conscious, and they want value," he said. And the boost in online orders, an area his store has heavily pushed in recent months, could be both from convenience and a desire to save money by ordering through a computer rather than driving to the store.

So far, Mother's Day hasn't been particularly strong for Stephens Farmhouse bakery south of Yuba City, said store manager Araceli Alvarez.

Sales overall are stronger this year than a year ago, she said, but not particularly robust for Mother's Day specialties such as strawberry pies, chocolate-covered strawberries and olallieberry pies.

"But a lot of the orders come in late," she added. And Father's Day tends to be a bigger business day for the bakery than the day celebrating moms, she said.

A woman whose mom lives in Yuba City said economy or no, she's not changing her plans for Mother's Day: Flowers, and some kind of outing.

"I'd much rather have peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for a week than not take care of my mom," said Dorothy Barnett of Oroville, 49, who went to high school in Yuba City.

But an Olivehurst man said he is scaling back for Mother's Day, though he's still spending the one commodity that might be more valuable than money: time.

"We'll probably cook breakfast for her, and we're planning a family barbecue that day," said Larry Levesque, 47. "Maybe planting flowers. Which lasts longer."

Contact Appeal-Democrat reporter Ben van der Meer at 749-4709 or bvandermeer@ appealdemocrat.com.