Christmas tree sales chopped

Jarrett Switzer moves one of his many trees at his parking lot Christmas tree stand. Photo by Harrison Perkins

By Harrison Perkins

It’s just after 10 a.m. Monday morning and Judy Lamers is on a mission find the perfect real Christmas tree.

She’s at a parking lot at the corner of Sidney and Bridge Street west in Belleville.

As she walks along the rows and rows of precut trees, this will be her first real tree in years.

“We’ve had a fake tree because we haven’t been at home at Christmas, we put up an artificial, but yesterday we decided we wanted to go back and get a real tree, there’s nothing like the smell of a real tree”.

While Lamers is going back to a real tree this year, new numbers from Statistics Canada show the import of artificial trees is on the rise.

47 million dollars worth of artificial Christmas trees were imported to Canada in 2011.

Of that amount, nearly $46 million dollars worth of artificial Christmas trees were imported from China, with the remainder coming from various countries.

Farming and selling Christmas trees grows in Jarrett Switzer’s family.

He is the third generation to make the drive from Bancroft to Belleville every December to sell the festive trees.

This year, Switzer hasn’t seen too much of a change in sales at his parking lot stall.

“I’ve had people that have bought here for years and years, it’s a tradition for the family to come and pick out a tree.” Switzer said.

The new numbers reveal the amount of Christmas trees produced and sold in Canada is decreasing.

The value of farm cash receipts for Christmas trees in Canada in 2011 dropped by more than 9 percent to just over $51 million, in 2010, that number was 56.6 percent.

Despite those numbers, Switzer still has people buying his trees.

“I’ve had people here this year who’ve had artificial trees went real this year” Switzer said.

With the decline in real trees, retailers notice the jump in artificial sales.

Natalie Ackarman, a floral designer at Live, Love and Laugh in Belleville said she has seen a change when it comes to tree choices.

“I have noticed an increase in interest in the artificial trees over real trees for sure”

Even if customers are buying artificial trees, Ackarman says they’ll still incorporate nature into their homes.

“Those who go with artificial trees still stick with their fresh centrepieces and wreathes for the door and so on just so they have that fresh cut smell.”

She says one of the factors with imported trees is their shipping weight.

“One of the factors in the cost of artificial tress is the shipping because they come oversized boxed, and they’re heavy.”

Back at the parking lot on Sidney, Judy Lamers is happy with her real Christmas tree.

“If you can have a real tree, it makes Christmas.”