TORONTO -- Normally stores don’t start selling out of holiday decorations until well into December, but this year there’s been a mad dash for one item in particular: Christmas trees.
Many of Canada’s three million evergreens are already lighting up living rooms across the country. Suppliers say there’s been a substantial increase in demand over the years, but this season especially has brought people out in desire of a fresh-cut tree.
Amy Leblanc-Watson, a grower with Forrester’s Point Family Tree Farm in Quispamsis, N.B. told CTV News Atlantic on Tuesday that she usually sells around 20 to 30 trees on the first weekend of the season. This year, she says, she’s seen a shocking amount of customers who were looking to make purchases in November.
“Over 100 families turned up on day one, which is more trees than we sold all season last year,” she said.
With many people staying at home because of the COVID-19 pandemic and fewer residents travelling around for the holidays, many Canadians are decorating Christmas trees as a way to spruce up their homes and spark some holiday joy.
Shirley Brennan, the executive director of the organization Christmas Tree Farmers of Ontario, told CP24 on Monday that Canadians are also planning family trips to pick out their own Christmas trees.
“We have seen the sales at Christmas tree farms go up about 25 per cent across the board and we see more and more families just getting out and enjoying not only getting a tree but the fresh air as well,” she said.
Some tree farms in eastern Quebec say they started receiving calls about Christmas trees just a day after Halloween, but now fears of a tree shortage have some residents worried that they might not get one in time for the holidays.
It can take more than 10 years to grow an average-sized Christmas tree from a seed, which means that farmers aren’t just able to increase their supply to respond to the surge in demand.
The root of the shortage stems from the 2008 global recession, when producers planted a smaller crop of trees, not anticipating the crucial need for comfort in 2020.
According to The Associated Press, the U.S. state of Oregon alone will ship around six million Christmas trees this year, with many of them being distributed abroad.
“You know what, I think people are getting that cabin fever and want to do more maybe than they’ve done in the past,” said Richard Levesque, who spoke to CTV News on Monday while out buying garland. “People are doing more with their own homes whether it’s renovations or repairs, and it’s a good thing. We have to find a good thing these days.”
Despite growing concerns of a shortage, tree growers say there is no need to worry and that they have plenty of trees that will be out until Christmas.
