1-800-FLOWERS.COM's Expanded Valentine Gift Selection Attracts Record Online Shoppers.

Business Editors

WESTBURY, N.Y.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 21, 2001

- More than five million shoppers visited the 1-800-FLOWERS.COM website during
this year's Valentine's Day period (January 29 through February 14, 2001)

- Online orders increased more than 50 percent compared with the prior year
period

- Approximately 2.5 million roses and more than 50,000 boxes of candy delivered

1-800-FLOWERS.COM(SM), a leading multi-channel retailer of thoughtful gifts for all occasions, announced record online traffic and order volume for the Valentine's Day holiday shopping period (January 29 through February 14, 2001). The Company said its expanded gift offering, featured in its "Perfect Valentine's Day Gifts" center and "One Stop Love Shop(SM)," helped attract more than five million customers to its website during the period. Online orders grew more than 50 percent, compared with the prior year period, driven by the increased traffic and the Company's expanded gift offering.

Highlighting the continued success of its expanded gift offering, the Company said that sales of its exclusive line of Belgian chocolates, introduced for Valentine's Day last year under the Fleur de Chocolate(TM) brand, exceeded 50,000 boxes during this year's Valentine's Day shopping period. The Company said it also sold more than 2.5 million roses as well as close to 20,000 plush stuffed toys and thousands of specialty gift items including fine jewelry and Lenox(R) fine crystal and collectables.

The Company noted that customers are increasingly embracing 1-800-FLOWERS.COM as their "trusted guide to gifting," as evidenced by the site's placement in PC Data's Top 20 websites for customer visits during both December and January. Based on the record number of customers that visited the 1-800-FLOWERS.COM site during the Valentine's Day shopping period, the Company said it anticipates it will also be in PC Data's Top 20 for February 2001- a third consecutive month.

Jim McCann, chairman and CEO, said, "Valentine's Day is one of our most important holidays in terms of brand building and we're very pleased to see continued customer growth despite media reports of tighter consumer spending and overall slower online traffic. Our customers know that they can use our convenient 360-degree access - online, via the telephone, catalogs and retail stores - to shop for special gifts for all of the important people in their lives. In addition, they know they can rely on us for timely and dependable delivery of flowers as well as an increasingly broad range of thoughtful gifts for any occasion."

McCann noted that, "With Valentine's Day behind us, we are now gearing up for our historically strongest customer demand period - our fiscal fourth quarter beginning in April - which includes such gifting holidays as Easter, Passover, Administrative Professional's Week, Father's Day, graduations and, of course, our traditionally biggest holiday of the year, Mother's Day. As we've stated in the past, we believe continued customer acceptance of our expanded gift offering and our focus on cost effectively executing our proven, multi-channel business model, will enable us to achieve continued revenue growth in the second half of our fiscal year and attain our stated goal of positive EBITDA in our fiscal fourth quarter."

About 1-800-FLOWERS.COM(SM)

With one of the most recognized brands in online retailing, 1-800-FLOWERS.COM provides a broad range of thoughtful gift products including flowers, gourmet foods, candies, gift baskets and other unique gifts to customers around the world via: the Internet (www.1800flowers.com); by calling 1-800-FLOWERS(R) (1-800-356-9377) 24 hours a day; or by visiting one of its Company-operated or franchised stores. The Company's gift product line is complemented by the merchandise sold through its subsidiaries which include The Plow & Hearth, Inc., a direct marketer (phone: [phone] and web: www.plowhearth.com) of home decor and garden merchandise and GREATFOOOD.COM(R) (www.greatfood.com) an online retailer of gourmet food products. 1-800-FLOWERS.COM currently maintains strategic online relationships with America Online, Yahoo, MSN, and NBCi, among others. The Company's Class A common stock is listed on the NASDAQ National Market under the symbol "FLWS."

Special Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements:

A number of statements contained in this press release are forward-looking within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in the applicable statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to: the Company's ability to maintain and enhance its online shopping web sites to attract customers; its ability to successfully introduce new products and product categories; its ability to provide timely fulfillment of customer orders; its ability to reduce customer service issues and manage customer credits and charge-backs; its ability to cost effectively acquire and retain customers; its ability to continue growing revenues; its ability to achieve cost savings in marketing and selling; its ability to cost efficiently manage inventories; its ability to improve its bottom line results; its ability to attain positive EBITDA; and general economic conditions that may affect levels of discretionary customer purchases of the Company's products. For a more detailed description of these and other risk factors, please refer to the Company's SEC filings including the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K and Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q.