Trying to get your hands on a Christmas tree? It might be tougher than you think this year.
“I don’t know that I would wait this year,” said Virginia Garden Supply Manager Philip Helbing. “I think everybody is already itching at the bit to get ready for the holiday.”
Before Santa Clause comes to town, let’s shed some light on the mom and pop shops who say this all started years ago, the clubs whose lots get emptier each year and the shoppers who will have to pay more than ever.
“A lot of the issue has been the slowdown of planting 10 or 11 years ago when we were in sort of a decline,” Helbing said.
He said it’s not so much a lack of supply as it is a lack of variety. For others, finding suppliers has proven to be a difficult task.
“We didn’t think it was going to come to a screeching halt like it has,” said Ron White with the Amherst County Lions Club.
For the first time in more than a decade, White and his wife Ann will have no trees to sell.
“We started in July and we’ve been looking everywhere,” Ann said. “We can’t find trees anywhere.”
You don’t have to worry yet. You just might have to look a little harder and spend a little more.
“It’s going up—labor costs, trucking costs. I think we’ll see everything up a good 10 to 15 percent this year,” Helbing said.
The experts’ best advice to get ready in time for the jolly ole man? Don’t wait.