Study #4in the Panel Negotiating the Use of New York City’s Shared Public Spaces In the United States about 30 million families buy Christmas trees each year, creating a retail market worth $1.03 billion. Christmas-tree sales are an important and growing business in New York City. From the day after Thanksgiving until Christmas Eve, vendors sell trees to residents throughout the five boroughs. In Manhattan there is at least one Christmas tree stand every few blocks. On average, a Manhattan tree stand takes in about $30,000 each season, but the seller’s profit is a fraction of that amount. Many different factors play a role in sales, including location, competition, origin of trees, and stand setup.
We interviewed 54 Christmas-tree sellers in Manhattan and found patterns in their situations. Some work at full-time jobs and sell trees to supplement their income. Some change their source of income seasonally, for example those who own family farms that grow fruits and vegetables in the summer. Others have no regular income during the year and take advantage of the holiday season to earn money.
Christmas-tree sellers congregate in New York City from across the United States and Canada. They enter a competitive market and change their lifestyle in order to adjust to the working conditions that come with the job, settling temporarily in the five boroughs of Manhattan.
About the presentersCatherine Maas
Catherine Maas is a recent graduate of the College of Mount Saint Vincent where she earned a Bachelors of Arts in Sociology and a minor in Psychology. While balancing a collegiate level sport and academics, she was able to collect and analyze data for the research that she was conducting on Christmas tree sellers in NYC.