With just one day to go, a local, family-run Christmas tree retailer that usually sells out by the middle of December still has about 300 Christmas trees on its lot at Luxton Hall in Langford, despite concerns just a month ago about a shortage of trees.
The Happy Holidays Christmas Tree Company has been selling Christmas trees for seven years, bringing in about 900 trees from a family farm in the Skeena Valley each year.
This year, a third of the trees remain unsold, which means a $20,000 to $25,000 loss for entrepreneur Debbie Stroshein.
“It’s been a rough ride,” said Stroshein, who is also a teacher with the Sooke School District. “Business this year has been down 37 per cent, my first year it has decreased since I started.
“It is disheartening for me but it has also affected the crafters who sell their wares on site, some who have reported sales down 60 to 70 per cent. I cried a lot last week.”
A portion of her sales is donated to the Juan De Fuca Search and Rescue, so a drop in sales means less funds for the rescue group as well.
Dustin Olender, partner Julie Holsworth and their son Henry Olender came by on Friday afternoon looking for a tree, preferably one about six feet tall.
“We had a change of plans and are now spending Christmas at home,” said Olender. “I heard that the trees were going for $30 and I wanted to support this business because they support Juan De Fuca Search and Rescue.”
Stroshein said sales have dwindled at the same time that overhead costs have skyrocketed.
“Trucking, leasing fencing, renting tents and other costs were $19,000 more than last year,” she said. “That adds about $10 to $15 to every tree. I tried my best to keep the pricing as low as possible.”
While she lost some business to box stores, her strength was that she could offer customers nine species of trees, including Noble, Nordman, Grand, Douglas and Amabilis firs, small Jack pines, giant Western white pines and spruces. She had big ones, small ones, plump ones and ugly ones too. She even had hard-to-find alpine firs.
Just a month ago, concerns were raised about a tree shortage due to drought and forest fires, but that may have been confined to the larger commercial producers supplying big box stores, she suspects.
“The earlier reports could just have been fear-mongering,” she said.
She is ready to give the business, which she calls her passion project, one more year in hopes it will turn around.
“I can ride out the storm this year, but can we take a risk if it is a long-term shift in the market?”
While she plans to reopen next year, she said she will probably have to cut back on her staff of nine employees, some of whom rely on the income from seasonal work.
For some employees that she taught in alternate education programs, the jobs help get them on their feet and give them valuable life and employment skills, she said. “They keep coming back every year.”
The gates to the tree lot at 1040 Marwood Ave. are open, with the remaining trees available under an honour system. People are invited to pick out any tree for $30 and e-transfer their payment to [email protected].
“Some of those trees represent 15 years of pruning, fertilizing and care. That they could not find a home for Christmas after all that time is just sad.”
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