VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — After gobbling up the Thanksgiving turkey, a lot of people broke out the Christmas decorations and headed to tree farms.
People who grow and sell live trees say if you’re interested in one, you should act fast.
When it comes to searching for the perfect Christmas tree this year, they said don’t get stumped.
Tree supply is limited at Cindy’s Produce in Virginia Beach.
"What I got is it. I can’t get any more this year,” said Cindy’s Produce owner Cindy Weatherly.
Weatherly orders her trees from a supplier in North Carolina.
“In the past, I could call him up and go, 'Hey, send me some more trees',” Weatherly said. “Two, three days, he would be here. Now, you are ordering trees in June.”
Christmas tree shortages are nothing new. But this year the American Christmas Tree Association said supply chain issues across the U.S. are impacting supplies. Add climate change and hiring issues on top of that.
“At this point in time lack of labor would be one of your biggest problems,” Weatherly said.
Just down the road, the owner of Bright’s Farm, Jim Bright, said customers are extra eager this year.
“We had regular people and we had a lot of new people too,” Bright said.
He just sold out of trees this past Saturday.
“People have been shut up and they just had extra bucks they wanted to put on a tree, and we are happy,” Bright said.
Bright said his trees went for $12 a foot. Pre-cut trees coming from out of state are costing customers a bit more.
“It’s to the point some of the small ones, what I used to sell them for, I am now paying that much or more for them,” Weatherly said.
Weatherly said a larger tree can cost people around 100 bucks. Her advice? Buy now!
“You hear, oh the price goes down before Christmas! You might not have anything to get though,” Weatherly said.