"If I could, I would," said Vander Pearson, whose shop, Pearson's, has been a fixture at the intersection of North Avenue and Charles Street for about three decades. But he said small independent florists are "disappearing" in the face of online competition and "the little stores depend on Valentine's Day. Most flower shops aren't going to say the heck with roses because that's what they need to pay their bills. Locally grown flowers work for Mother's Day, but for Valentine's Day, I don't think that's going to work. There's so much competition and it's hard to pull people away from something they're so used to."