Matchmaker, Matchmaker make me a Match

Copyright Windsor Star 2004
reprinted with permission by The Windsor Star

Matchmaker, matchmaker make me a match.

It's Valentine's Day. For those who make a living finding finds and catching catches for singles, the so-called most romantic day of the year prompts a bounce in an already booming business.

Today's professional cupids raked in $214.3 million US in the United States in the first half of 2003 alone -- nearly triple what was spent on dating services in all of 2001 -- and they did it by tipping their arrows with everything from online dating services to personal matchmaking consulting.

"I definitely think Valentine's Day, with how much publicity it gets, really makes people start thinking 'I don't want to be alone,'" said Tricia Else, a sales manager for Sparknetwork Service, the Chicago-area company that operates Windsor's 93.9 Lite Rock FM and 89 X meeting places. The telephone dating services have 300 and 900 local clients respectively.

Trish McDermott, the vice-president for romance at the world's largest online dating service Match.com, said the site's traffic begins to increase weeks before Feb. 14.

"We think it's part of the New Year's resolution phase and the pending sense that Valentine's Day is actually around the corner," she said in a phone interview Friday. "We actually see the bump beginning in January and it carries through the valentine season. So these six weeks, we call all of this valentine's season."

Match.com has nearly 12 million registered clients, 724,000 of whom are Canadian. Online dating's popularity has exploded in the past two years, but it's by no means the only way for singles to find dates or love.

It's Just Lunch, a San Diego-based professional matchmaking service that charges between $1,000 and $1,500 US for six-month or year-long memberships, actually conducts hour-long interviews with their clients before setting them up for lunch or drink dates.

"Let's face it, Valentine's Day is media-packed," said Nancy Kirsch, the company's senior vice- president.

"I mean if you're single, you watch these things and you think 'Oh my gosh, I need to do something.'"

With offices in Detroit's suburbs, It's Just Lunch, welcomes Canadian clients.

 

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