From Paczki Day to Valentine’s Day, a big week for small businesses

A tray of paczki is shown in this file photo. (Chris Campbell/CTV News Windsor)

Between Paczki Day and Valentine’s Day, don’t be surprised if you see lines outside stores this week.

On Tuesday, Windsor will celebrate a day dedicated to donuts with the Polish tradition of Paczki Day.

Dubbed “Fat Tuesday,” Paczki Day started as a way for bakers to clear out their perishable stock before folks began to fast for Lent.

It’s since become a craze, with people ordering dozens of the baked good well in advance to escape having to stand in long lines.

This year will be the fourteenth time local baker Doug Romanek whips up hundreds of them.

Over the years, Romanek said, he's learned a trick or two.

“I have all the steps mapped out on a piece of paper,” he said. “Because it’s a process.”

Romanek said he’d be at Laura’s Bakery & Deli in LaSalle before 3 a.m. Tuesday to get started – with the store opening at 8 a.m.

He expects to see a line by then.

“Once you get through your first two or three hundred, it will become easy for you.”

Owner Laura DePaola said it will be hectic. By the end of the day, she added, it will have all been worth it.

“Ever since COVID, you can’t predict a day-to-day atmosphere for your store,” said DePaola. “So knowing things like Valentine's Day and Paczki Day where you're guaranteed to have those customers through the door, it's a little bit easier to breathe because you don't have to worry as much.

They’ll start cranking out heart-shaped cookies once they get through Tuesday, expecting Valentine’s to be busy as well.

That’s the expectation at Janette Florist where Valentine's Day often sees a line out the door.

“I call it controlled chaos,” said florist owner Brandi Sullivan.

For customers, she said the trick is to order ahead. On her part, she'll be preparing what’s been ordered while also taking a guess at what people will want at the last minute.

“Typically, we have a line out the door,. We have a stack of pickup orders and we're usually doing a few hundred deliveries as well,” Sullivan said.