Vital, stressful, fun - traders' take on Christmas

Traders in the South West say Christmas continues to be a vital time of year - even if it is "stressful".

The festive period is traditionally an important time for businesses with many building displays and stocking up to target shoppers looking for gifts.

Some businesses in Devon and Cornwall have decided to focus purely on the festivities by becoming Christmas tree farms or only selling items designed for the season.

Business owners in the region said while getting everything ready for Christmas was a lot of hard work, it could provide a big boost to sales and help them throughout the year.

Tidings in Padstow has built its business on being a Christmas shop. The store sells decorations and Christmas ornaments year-round, with owner Debbie Morris-Kirby saying it starts to get busy when the summer holidays begin.

"Padstow is a popular tourist resort and Christmas decorations make the perfect souvenir," she said.

"It's Christmas every day here - our beautiful tree is displayed all year and we have a machine above our front door which can produce snowflakes at the push of a button."

Ms Morris-Kirby said 2025 had been "exceptionally busy and chaotic" with high sales on the shop's website.

She added there was an element of people being more prudent but there had still been plenty of cheer throughout the year.

"This year has been harder than other recent ones," Ms Morris-Kirby said.

"All of our goods are luxury items and it is noticeable customers are being more careful about spending money on non essential items.

"Together with rising running costs - high business rates, employee costs, employers' National Insurance contributions - we are having to be very careful with our budgeting.

"However, it is lovely to see customer reactions the first time they see our store and especially the excitement our younger visitors experience when they see Santa in our windows."

Family-run Tregaminion and Bruggan Farms on Cornwall's Lizard peninsula said the festive season was a "busy, stressful but wonderful" time for them.

Along with holiday lets, rearing animals and providing meat boxes, the team has ventured into growing Christmas trees.

Sarah Richards, who runs the farm with her husband James, said this year had been a sell-out with about 600 Christmas trees sold.

She said: "We are always blown away by how loyal our customers have become, and how far people are willing to travel to us."

She said while Christmas trees were just a seasonal element of the business, it had become a "vital" part of life at the farm.

"Smaller farms like ours struggle without diversification, and we really enjoy the Christmas tree aspect of ours," she added.

Ms Richards said there were about 4,000 trees being grown at the farm, with it taking up to six years of growth before one is sold.

She said preparing them was a year-round job, which needed careful management.

Combe Garden Centre is not a business solely focused on Christmas, but bosses at the store in Honiton said the festive period was a massive part of their trade.

James Trevett, the garden centre's manager, said Christmas could provide a boost to sales during what would otherwise be a quiet couple of months.

He said the shop had experienced an 11% increase year-on-year on festive sales including Christmas trees, decorations and gifts.

Mr Trevett said the store liked to go big at Christmas, with about 50% of the shop floor being turned into festive displays.

"Christmas at the garden centre is fun - well, a stressful fun," he said.

"We can use the free space to really go to town with dramatic displays."

He added a lot of planning went into the festive period at the garden centre.

Mr Trevett said: "Believe it or not, before we've packed any left over stock away in January we will have already started the buying for 2026."

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