Winnipeg garden centres left with high supply, low demand for Christmas trees this season

CTV’s Joseph Bernacki has more on the current market for real Christmas trees, and the reasons for the lack of demand this year.

As people are preparing to buy their Christmas trees this season, garden centre owners are saying there’s no shortage in stock.

Ray DuBois, owner of Ron Paul Garden Centre in Winnipeg, said he has watched consumer demand for real Christmas trees go down since the COVID-19 pandemic.

“They had extra money because they couldn’t go on trips, so they’re (like), ‘Let’s make it a real Christmas,’” DuBois said.

“We saw our peak then. Since that time though, it has dropped off, and it’s kind of levelled out now.”

DuBois said the pandemic caused a surge in tree supply as tree farms adjusted to keep up with demand.

He said it takes several years for those trees to hit the market. Now that the trees have arrived, DuBois said he has no shortage of supply.

“We’re in that five-to-seven-year sweet spot,” DuBois said.

“This year we were contacted by tree farms asking if we needed trees, which is a first for me since like 2015.”

Last year, DuBois said he gave away 400 Christmas trees at the end of the season based on decreased demand. He said existing tariffs and tension with the United States are also driving down sales in different parts of the country.

“A producer out of Nova Scotia was saying that his tree sales into the United States have completely vanished,” DuBois said.

However, that has not slowed tree sales everywhere locally. Just down the street at St. Mary’s Nursery Garden Centre, owner Carla Hrycyna said while the price of Christmas trees has gone up, real tree enthusiasts have kept up the demand.

“The people that are coming in looking for fresh-cut trees, they are an adamant fresh-cut tree person, and they are still finding some good selections of trees out there,” Hrycyna said.

Both owners said only time will tell how many trees will be left at the end of the season.

Mike Hermann and his wife Giselle are committed to fresh trees. They said it’s a must need for their Christmas season.

“We’ve never not had a real tree, we’ve always had a real tree,” Mike said. “Now, we have a combination, we have one fake, one real. Who doesn’t love Christmas?”

“You know it makes Christmas real,” Giselle Hermann said. “You got to have a tree.”