tricia katelnikoff, the owner of cobblestone garden centre, has had a chaotic week.
the store recently filled its inventory for christmas trees following a supply shortage for more than two months, and its sales emptied half of the stock only a few days ago.
“they’re going to be gone quick this year,” katelnikoff said.
christmas tree stores in town are hit by the double whammy of increased demand and falling supply, the latter of which has been strained for several reasons.
one of them is a fungus called butternut canker that has plagued the trees of blue grass nursery’s biggest supplier in ontario, said jennifer cordingley, marketing manager of the store.
the disease forced the retailer to look for suppliers elsewhere, including in b.c., which mainly sells douglas firs, but that province’s worst recorded spell of forest fires this year had gobbled up a chunk of available christmas trees.
tricia katelnikoff from cobblestone garden centre shows betty and bob peloquin some christmas trees on tuesday, november 28, 2023. katelnikoff says they have seen a shortage for a variety of reasons and also an increased demands for christmas trees.
jim wells/postmedia
however, bruce wilkins, owner of mountain view christmas trees, said his supply of douglas firs hasn’t taken a huge hit.
“the forest fires and the b.c. side didn’t seem to affect our growers this year,” wilkins said. “so our douglas fir numbers and stock have been good.”
he said other factors, such as retiring growers and the sale of farms to bigger buyers for clear-cutting, have pinched the available stock for retailers.
prolonged drought in the province and across canada
has further limited the supply of christmas trees.