While the economy may have hurt retail sales this holiday season, it certainly hasn’t damaged the sales of Christmas trees.

“This is the best year we’ve had so far,” said Lindsey Steadman, owner of Lindsey’s Tire Center located at 115 Biltmore Drive in Rockingham. “The weather has helped a lot.”

Steadman said the cold weather, coupled with plenty of rain in the mountains led to a healthy crop of trees this year that are fuller and thicker than in year’s past.

“Over all they’re better than they’ve been in a while,” Steadman said. “Everyone’s should be better this year.”

Steadman brings his trees in from West Jefferson near Boone.

He said most tree lots took a huge hit last year because the economy was so bad. At the end of the Christmas tree season last year, Steadman was left with 169 trees.

“Everyone had a lot left last year,” he said.

This year it’s been much more fruitful.

With just over a dozen trees left this year, Steadman has had to take three trips to the mountains to get his trees. He sold out last Friday and had to take a last-minute trip to fill the lot back up.

Part of the huge demand at Steadman’s lot is that he’s the only one with a tree lot for miles around.

“There used to be 12 to 14 different tree lots in the area when we started,” said Steadman, who’s had his tree lot for nearly 22 years. “Selling Christmas trees is a big gamble because you can’t take too many losses year after year without it hurting you.”

Steadman said one thing that’s made his lot successful is the extra effort he and his staff put in to readying the trees.

“We blow the extra needles and stuff out of it, cut off the bottom, install the tree stands, re-net them and put them in the truck or tie them onto the car,” Steadman said.

He’s also got a booth set up to sell hot chocolate and other drinks, candy and chips.

“We enjoy being out here,” Steadman said. “It’s a lot of work but we enjoy the atmosphere and the customers.”

Steadman’s lot also carries wreathes that are hand-made on site. They range in size from 8 to 12 inches and as big as 6 feet. He also has pine and fraser garland that runs 30-75 feet in length.

The trees at Steadman’s range from the small “Charlie Brown” Christmas trees, to the larger, popular 6-8 foot trees, and up to 13 feet.

Steadman also has Blue Spruce and White Pine trees that still have their roots so they can be replanted.

“They take a lot of work, but they have a better survival rate,” Steadman explained.

Staff writer Eren Tataragasi can be reached at (910) 997-3111 ext. 19 or at etataragasi@yourdailyjournal.com.