With Thanksgiving over, thoughts turn to Christmas trees, decorations
LANTANA — Snowbirds surround the swimming pool, the supermarket replaced its pyramids of canned cranberry with poinsettia plants, Thanksgiving's leftovers are gone, and the sun has set on Black Friday.
Even without a chill in the air or a flurry of snow, these are signs that for many mean one thing: It’s time to think about a Christmas tree.
That quest kept business brisk recently at Tree Towne Christmas Trees' Lantana-area site, where choices span 2-foot “baby trees” to 16-footers and powder-white-coated “flocked” blue spruce, to fragrant Fraser firs with their classic Christmas scent.
It’s a quest that draws customers across lines of age, income, even religion, said Scott Lucas, a member of the family that opened its tree-selling business here in 1983 and sells trees from five sites across the county and in Martin County.
Some people celebrate the holiday, some celebrate the spirit of the holiday, and some just love the way a tree lights up their home with sparkle and scent, he said. Across all of those lines, customers remain constant while trends come and go.
Lately, that has included the timing of tree buying.
During the grim days of the pandemic, he said, crowds in search of holiday cheer descended “right out of the gate,” and about 100 trees a day found new homes when locations opened two days before Thanksgiving tables were even set.
“Now we’ve gotten back to normal,” Lucas said. Still, that meant about 50 trees sold a day since this year’s opening last week, and on Friday, 180 trees left the lot.
Size — and snow — catch on in West Palm Beach
“Flocked” trees — trees shipped from Michigan to Tree Towne’s West Palm Beach headquarters, where they are sprayed to produce a snow-like effect — have gained popularity over the last decade, perhaps because of influencers posting pictures of their white trees, Lucas said.
In a county that once was home to “the world’s largest decorated Christmas tree” (or so they said) at the sensational supermarket tabloid National Enquirer's Lantana office, tree size is on the rise among consumers, with ones taller than 6 feet gaining in popularity, Lucas said.
Wreaths propped around the lot represent the other end of the spectrum as well as lower-maintenance holiday joy.
For those seeking the look of the holidays without the litter of pine needles, the Party City celebration decoration store in Boynton Beach was stocked with Christmas and Hanukkah adornments that include items from faux mistletoe to menorahs since Halloween.
Christmas-oriented goods have moved steadily since, with Hanukkah-themed decorations beginning to move this weekend, Party City crew member Bianca Cooper said.
Annual tradition brings regular Palm Beach County customers
At Tree Towne, a couple who had weighed the merits of an 11-footer in the back left Saturday with a 4-footer, one of the “baby” trees.
This family business, which at other times of the year sells pumpkins, fireworks and pottery, sees many of its customers every year at locations which, in addition to Lantana, can be found in Wellington, West Palm Beach, Jupiter and Jensen Beach.
“Another tree, another year,” one customer says, on his way off the lot with a 10-foot fir.
Antigone Barton is a reporter with The Palm Beach Post. You can reach her at avbarton@pbpost.com. Help support our work: Subscribe today.
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This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Tree Towne Christmas Trees for sale in Palm Beach County
