PHOENIX — We are less than two weeks away from Christmas, and if you plan on buying a real tree there's still time.
Local businesses say more people are buying them this year and they are going fast.
ABC15 spoke with customers buying trees in Tempe at Valley View Christmas Trees. "My daughter's coming home for Christmas so I want to have a tree up for her," said John Knowlton. "They smell nice. The cats like them. Everybody likes a live tree."
According to the National Christmas Tree Association, 40% of all real Christmas trees across the country were purchased last year by people living in urban areas.
That was an 8% increase over 2019. The pandemic possibly contributed to the increase, with more people wanting something special for the holidays at home.
Joel Adamson, lot manager for Valley View Christmas Trees in Tempe, says numbers are up from last year. He says they haven't seen business this good in at least five years.
“Right now, I have around 180 trees but just a couple days ago I had 365 on Friday," he said. "So that’s a big difference. We’ve been selling a lot of trees in the last few days."
However, like everything, the cost of trees has gone up by about 6% or $10-20 a tree depending on the size.
Fuel prices, labor, and weather impacting some growing areas are to blame.
