Marissa Bonet and her mother, Maria, usually buy a seven- to eight-foot Christmas tree the day after Thanksgiving. But the pandemic made this year was different.
“Holidays got a little bit mixed up,” said Marissa Bonet, as she prodded through the last of the pickings at Tradition Trees’ Druid Hills location on Thursday. Her family did not have a large gathering for Thanksgiving, so the annual tradition of next-day Christmas tree shopping fell through.
A week before Christmas eve, Marissa Bonet drove her mother to find a tree, but they found few locations even selling them. Three other stores told them via phone that they had no remaining trees over six feet.
Credit: Carly Wanna
Credit: Carly Wanna
Just a few yards away, Adam Ellsworth and his son, Isaiah eyed a six-foot-tall Christmas tree. This year has been tough for people, Ellsworth said, and he — like many other shoppers — are seeking holiday cheer. “We wanted to get a real tree again, like we always do, to brighten up the season,” said Ellsworth.
Many Christmas tree markets in Atlanta faced an influx of early buyers this year, depleting inventory. The holiday season — marked by a pandemic, a heated presidential election and two Senate runoffs still pending — left many Georgians eager for a festive distraction and inspired early tree shopping.
“Folks are just looking for something to be happy about,” said Paul Thompson, marketing director for the Georgia Department of Agriculture.
Credit: carly wanna
Credit: carly wanna
Nationwide, Christmas tree sales are up and likely to top the 26.2 million that sold last year — according to Tim O’Connor, the executive director of the National Christmas Tree Association. While demand is high, there is a shortage of Christmas trees, especially larger ones. Many markets are running out of firs, wreaths and garlands earlier than in years past.
Matt Bowman, the owner of Tradition Trees, told the AJC on Wednesday that by Saturday he expects to have sold out the more than 7,000 trees the company ordered.
“There won’t be too many left in Atlanta after Sunday, I’ll tell you that,” said Bowman.
Credit: carly wanna
Credit: carly wanna
During the Great Recession, growers could not afford enough seedlings to replace what they chopped, he said. A seven- to nine-foot tree could take almost a decade to grow, so that lack of planting is just now catching up to the market. Wildfires out West also burned forests this year, so buyers across the country increasingly relied on a limited supply of trees coming from the East Coast, according to Bowman.
Nadine Deschene and her husband, Brett, would normally buy a nearly 10-foot-tall tree for more than $100. But due to a lack of bigger trees remaining on Thursday, they settled for a six-foot-tall frasier fir from the Home Depot in Decatur for $40.
“Its bald spot is beautiful,” Deschene said charitably.
She summed up other shoppers’ mentality that left shelves all but empty: “‘We’re going to party hard, celebrate early, and buy three weeks ahead of time,’” she joked, adding “I’m not resentful.”
It was that shopping strategy that left Drew Austell with only a couple of trees and a few wreaths to sell on Wednesday. The lot manager of Christmas Trees, an independent company, said he expected what was left to sell within the day. So he spent the afternoon cleaning and packing up. “It feels much more like it would on the 22nd or 23rd of December,” he said.
Austell, who sets up shop outside of the North Springs United Methodist Church, is happy he will not waste trees this year, but said “it’s bittersweet to run out early,” as some people won’t get that added festive spirit.
Rob Dillon, owner of Little Rob’s Christmas Trees in Atlanta said he has taken to hiding. With one oversized wreath and only a three-foot tree left on Wednesday, he got tired of explaining to customers that they were out of the eight-foot trees many Buckhead buyers crave.
“If somebody really badly wants my one remaining three-foot tree,” Dillon said, “it’s available over the phone.”
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