'We Sell Happy': Christmas Decoration Sales Skyrocket As Shoppers Seek Reprieve From Chaotic Year
CANOGA PARK (CBSLA) -- The moment you step into "Traditions" holiday shop in Canoga Park, it looks as if you've been transported to the North Pole.
That's why Rosie Carrikersmothers and her friend, Sarah, drove all the way from West Hollywood to pick up Christmas decorations and kick off the holiday season.
"Being immersed in it, it just really helps. It makes you happy," she said. "Through the crazy year we have to take the little things that we can have, especially Christmas, because it's been something I've been looking forward to. So I'm just going to start celebrating it early... it's my favorite holiday."
Rosie is not alone. Shop owner Debi Thomas said in-store and online sales are skyrocketing this season.
"It's been sometimes double, sometimes triple," Thomas said. "People want to be happy, and we sell happy."
Thomas said she's hired a handful of new employees to keep up with the demand of orders coming from customers hoping to cultivate holiday cheer, look forward to the new year, and leave behind the hardships of 2020.
But in case anyone wants to remember the historic happenings of 2020, customers can purchase hand sanitizer and toilet paper ornaments to add to their tree.
Jeanette Pavini, who runs a blog tracking consumer trends, said she's not surprised at the uptick in early holiday sales, since people are spending more time at home.
"It has been a difficult year, a political year, we've had a pandemic and an economic crisis," she said. "I think the fact that sales are so significant so early in the holiday season is a sign of where consumers' minds are at. They want control. They can control their home by decorating. They want something normal, and they can bring back these traditions."
Many will lean on these traditions for happiness as holiday season quickly approaches.
"I know somebody said we shouldn't be celebrating stuff because it doesn't feel celebratory but I feel like that is all the more reason to do it," Rosie said. "To take the wins big and small."