Pandemic’s stay-home holiday season pushing early start to Christmas preparations
Workers were loading poinsettias by the dozens at Green Acres Nursery & Supply in Elk Grove. At Davis Ranch, a country drive away in Sloughhouse, the produce stand’s choose-and-cut Christmas tree farm doesn’t open until the day after Thanksgiving, just like every other year, but the ranch’s Jim Ayers said people were already eager to pick out their favorite evergreen.
And in El Dorado County, McGee Christmas Tree Farm in Placerville began its season on Saturday, a week earlier than its traditional opening weekend, COVID-19 precautions in place.
“A lot of people have been connecting with me. Because it is outdoors, they’re not as nervous as going to a family gathering indoors,” Phyllis McGee, who owns the 20-acre Apple Hill-area location with husband Michael, said Friday.
Similarly, by Sunday, the Eldorado National Forest’s Christmas tree permits had sold out, U.S. Forest Service rangers said on social media — nearly a week before Thanksgiving.
Facing the prospect of holidays hunkered down and spent apart during the pandemic, locals and businesses alike are getting a head start on Christmas preparations for their holiday at home.
“People aren’t able to go away for the holidays. They’re staying home now and they want their house to look pretty,” Mary Bettencourt, store manager at the Green Acres nursery in Elk Grove, said Friday. Bettencourt said her store was to begin selling fresh-cut trees Sunday.
“I have already had people ask about our Christmas trees,” Bettencourt said. “Because they’re going to be at home, they want some cheer.”
And those poinsettias? “Oh my gosh,” Bettencourt said. “They’re selling like crazy.”
Trees, lights, wreaths — it’s starting to look a lot like Christmas, even before Thanksgiving in a pandemic-weary 2020.
Even as Sacramento families climb aboard flights to see family this Thanksgiving despite ever-increasing COVID-19 case numbers and health officials’ dire warnings, many others will likely stay put and spend more money on their at-home holiday, according to a national survey of holiday shopping trends.
Nearly 20 percent of holiday shoppers who typically travel for the holidays told the National Retail Federation in its 2020 Holiday Survey that they will stay home this year.
A full 53 percent of those staying home this pandemic year said they will spend more cash on holiday items precisely because they will not be traveling.
Shoppers surveyed by the retail federation said they will spend an average of $230 this season on non-gift holiday items such as decorations — slightly higher than the $227 per shopper in 2019 and higher than any total in the last five years.
Earlier sales campaigns such as Target Stores’ month-long Black Friday promotion are playing into the Christmas jump start, said retail expert Phil Rist in announcing the survey’s results. Rist is an executive at Columbus, Ohio-based retail research firm Prosper Insights & Analytics, which conducted the survey.
“Consumers are taking advantage of a variety of offerings including earlier sales promotions and shipping options,” Rist said.
But it’s not just retailers’ early enticements or a pandemic that is spurring sales. The trees themselves also play a major role, said Doug Hundley of the Colorado-based National Christmas Tree Association, a nationwide growers group. In California, that means the Noble Fir.
The thick, lush Nobles have been staples of California tree lots for a quarter-century and last for as long as six weeks after they are cut, said Hundley, who has spent 40 years in the Christmas tree business including 25 years at North Carolina State University’s Christmas tree program.
“The customer after 25 years is comfortable buying their trees earlier,” Hundley said, with some buying the firs as early as mid-November for their yuletide display. “The trees’ ability to stay fresh had gotten people to be very brave.”
They may also be searching for something that resembles life and holidays before the pandemic while extending consumer habits learned during a stay-home spring and summer, Hundley said.
“People want to get to something normal. People do need to get some normalcy in their lives,” Hundley said. “From what we know, garden centers had their best year this year. So many people were landscaping during the summer months and the same thing may be happening with decorations - if more people are staying home, the chances of (sales of) Christmas decorations may increase.”
The flip side of that, Hundley said, is cabin fever. After eight months or more of the pandemic, “the idea of going out to a choose-and-cut farm becomes real appealing” for families, he said.
Phyllis McGee’s customers would likely agree.
“It’s not about how many trees we sell. It’s about an experience. We want people to come outside,” McGee said Friday. “We’re kind of selling a family experience. They’re saying, ‘Here’s one tradition that we can continue safely.’”
This story was originally published November 24, 2020 at 5:00 AM.
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