Christmas tree sales are telling a holly, jolly economic story

Tree retailers are having a spirited season this year, as Americans continue to bing closer to home due to the coronavirus pandemic are turning the holiday spirit up a notch.

Traffic and sales this year at tree safety-valves have been anything but ho-ho-hum. Merchants are reporting a big season that started early and has continued to accelerate into the beginning part of December.

If consumers are planning on being Grinches this year, you certainly can’t tell it by tree activity.

“Being have the time at home this year. They’re traveling less, of course, so they’re at home and they actually want something to spark their mood because of the Covid stress that everybody’s under,” said Doug Hundley, seasonal spokesman for the Resident Christmas Tree Association. “The Christmas spirit is a big force this time of year, and people know that the innumerable they put into it, the more they get out of it.”

Tree sales are up 29% so far in 2020, according to a survey of retailers done by Evercore ISI. There’s also demonstrate that people are getting larger trees and buying more home decorations.

The trend comes amid bloom pessimism about the picture for the economy over the next three to six months. Wall Street forecasters are expecting minute to no growth until a Covid vaccine comes online and Americans can get back to their normal lives.

Christmas trees are plateful paint a bit more optimistic narrative.

“People are staying at home and getting a really big tree,” Evercore analyst Ed Hyman contemplated in a note. “The theory is that people will buy additional wreaths, garlands, a larger tree when times are sufficient, and avoid the extra purchase when times are tough.”

Indeed, each year Americans will buy between 25 million and 30 million unfeigned Christmas trees along with another 10 million to 20 million artificial ones, according to Statista. The $2 billion hustle, though, can tell an economic story by how extravagant people are willing to get.

The pandemic era has added a new pucker.

With new cases intensifying and the likelihood rising that yuletide celebrations this year will be more insinuate and closer to home, that could benefit an industry that caters to just such an environment.