Owner Tom Covello stands in Stemsations in the Hotel du Pont in Wilmington, Del.

WILMINGTON, Del. — Come tomorrow Tom Covello will have cause to celebrate – and, hopefully, the weather will work with him.

The Ridley Township resident opened Stemsations, the first floral store in the Hotel du Pont, in the midst of an ice storm last Valentine’s Day.“It was a very ominous opening,” Covello laughed a year later, adding, “It was a wonderful progression of circumstances. It’s an exciting adventure.”

The Springfield High School graduate opened Covello’s Creations at the Clifton Heights/Springfield border shortly after graduation but received pressure from market forces.“It became increasingly difficult to make any money,” he said of operating a floral store and competing with the proliferation of flower sales in grocery stores.

So, in 1999, he began Celebrations Design Group to focus solely on special-events planning. He located the business in Claymont, Del., since he discovered that not many vendors offered his level of service in Delaware at the time.It was through this venture that Covello established a relationship with the Hotel du Pont, where staff learned of his ability to deliver a quality product.

Then an 800-square-foot space opened and they asked him to open a boutique in the spot. “I jumped at the prospect,” he said. “I knew it was going to be a piece of cake for me. It’s just big enough for what it needs to be.”He was clear in what he wanted to portray.“I wanted to model it after the European markets,” Covello said, adding that, there, flowers are more accessible.In America, you’re not allowed to touch the flowers, he said. In Europe, they are ubiquitous.

Stemsations does not offer delivery and its location in the hotel presents Covello with an opportunity to be more consumer-oriented, allowing him to develop personal relationships with clients. It’s about one flower at a time.“Our concentration,” he said, “is on selling stems.”Covello had a cooler custom designed so that it is open on both ends and patrons can walk into it and pick whatever stems they fancy.They can bunch them together or ask the staff to arrange them, as arrangements are one of Covello’s passions.“We’ve done a tone of arrangements with fruit and flowers,” he said, adding that exposure and drama are his calling card.

Visitors to the window displays on 10th Street in Wilmington, Del., can decide as Covello designed each with a specific theme in mind from winter to Mardi Gras to Valentine’s Day.

So far, Covello said, Stemsations has been well received and the rapport with the hotel has been beneficial to both as the hotel brings traffic to the store. Covello provides quick flowers for guests who desire them.“People are just eating it up,” he said.And even with two businesses in Delaware, he keeps his home in Delaware County — mainly because it’s halfway between his work and Philadelphia International Airport, where his flowers arrive.In any event, Covello anticipates the upcoming holiday with ebullience and a tiny bit of trepidation.“We’re getting to celebrate our one-year anniversary,” he said, “and we’re hoping that Mother Nature isn’t cruel to us.”

Stemsations is in the Hotel du Pont, next to the du Pont Theatre, at 11th and Market streets in Wilmington, Del. It is open 8 a.m.-7 p.m. Monday through Friday and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday. Its telephone number is (302) 528-9390.