Christmas tree prices surge amid tree shortage in the Central Coast

Get ready to pay more if you’re out shopping for fresh Christmas trees –local tree farmers say a shortage has caused them to raise their rates.

“It’s kinda created by the big chain stores,” said Karl Holloway, co-owner of Holloway’s Christmas Tree farm in Nipomo. “They had a small price on a lot of the trees for a long time. Small grower goes out of business. Ok, now everybody is after the bigger, medium-sized growers for trees and the prices doubled in the last three years.”

At Holloway’s, trees range from $40 to $200 . The owners say they try to keep competitive prices, some times selling trees close to what they buy them for.

Holloway reassured the price jump from last year is not very significant –shoppers will notice about a $10 difference.

The Nipomo farmer added they’re off to a good start this holiday season.

“Last weekend was a record-setting weekend. We went through almost two trucks of pre-cuts and about 500 or 600 of the ones out in the field that you choose to cut down yourself. We’re looking to do the same this weekend.”

On Friday, the farm was filled with shoppers throughout the day. Holloway expects to sell about 600 trees a day over the weekend.