No Christmas Tree Rush : Despite Slow Start, Sales Are Expected to Be at Least as Good as Last Year’s

The voice of Elvis Presley’s “Merry Christmas, Baby” crackled over the loudspeaker at the Pumpkin City’s Christmas tree lot Thursday as a veritable army of men in flannel shirts stood ready to wrestle trees onto customers’ cars.

Occasionally, a lone customer wandered onto the lot.

“For a four-foot tree, $17 is a little high,” complained John, a retired toolmaker who declined to give his last name and left without buying a tree. Because of the economy, John said, he wanted a smaller--and cheaper--tree this year. “There are a lot of people today who may not have enough money for food,” he said. “To ask them to pay $70 or $80 for a tree is out of the question.”

Such was the tenor at many of Orange County’s Christmas tree lots in what is traditionally the first week of sales. Business was, in a word, slow.

The good news, however, was that even the week’s sluggish sales were no worse--and in some cases slightly better--than last year’s, which reached record lows.

“I think we’ll be OK,” said Jeff Keenan, general manager of Pumpkin City’s, which operates 10 lots in Orange County. “People are still buying trees, but they’re buying eight- to nine-foot trees instead of nine- to 10-foot trees. We’ve prepared for that by carrying smaller trees. We’re expecting a decent year.”

George Reish, whose three tree farms (including two in Orange County) suffered a 15% decline in business from 1990 to 1991, said this year’s sales look to be roughly comparable to last year’s.

“If we can hold to last year’s numbers we’ll be OK,” he said. “If we can’t, I’ll be concerned.”

And Charles Peltzer, owner of Peltzer Pines Tree Farms at eight locations in Orange County, said that based on first-week sales, he expected business this year to be about 5% better than last year, which was about 12% worse than the year before.

“Apparently our slide has bottomed out,” Peltzer said, “but the upward return is barely perceptible. If a person doesn’t feel (secure) about their job, they will definitely pull in their horns and (spend) less.”

Dealers generally blame their economic woes on the recession. With large numbers of would-be customers unemployed or facing insecure futures, they say, many are buying smaller trees or forgoing them altogether.

In addition, some dealers say their businesses have been hurt by competition from large discount and supermarket chains that sell inexpensive Christmas trees, often displayed in their parking lots.

“The grocery stores have had an impact,” Keenan said. “They can undercut us.”

Peltzer, who said the major retailers’ trees may be cheaper but are not as good as his, said they nevertheless are “taking care of a lot of the impulse shoppers. People who are buying on impulse will buy wherever they are at the moment.”

Interestingly, however, representatives of major nonprofit groups that sell Christmas trees as fund-raisers but operate on relatively low volume say they haven’t been seriously affected by the increased competition.

Jerry Nutter, president of the YMCA of Orange County, and Jason Stein, spokesman for the Boy Scouts, said their organizations haven’t been hurt by the big retailers.

And some shoppers said they were determined that the recession wouldn’t hurt their Christmas.

“I would get a tree if it were the last dime I had,” Pat Ralls of Laguna Niguel, said at Pumpkin City’s. “I love Christmas and the tree is my favorite tradition. I would skimp on anything else before I’d skimp on a tree.”

Tina Molenda, the owner of a Mission Viejo janitorial business, couldn’t have agreed more as she picked out a 15-foot tree that cost $121.

“Christmas is Christmas,” she said. “Everybody loves it. It’s exciting. The presents are thinner this year, but our tree is bigger. I like to sit next to the fireplace, look at the Christmas tree and drink cocoa with my family.”