The life of a Christmas tree seller
Marketplace Morning Report
American Public Media
4.5 • 808 Ratings
🗓️ 17 December 2025
⏱️ 7 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
It's an annual tradition in New York City: Each December, pedestrians fight for walking room on sidewalks populated by lush firs and frasers. Staffed by seasonal workers, these Christmas tree lots are often open 24 hours a day. We visited one of these tree stands on a sidewalk in West Harlem just after midnight to learn about the biz. But first, holiday season retail sales numbers out yesterday from the Census Bureau were unexpectedly flat.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | At Pluralsight, we don't just teach skills. |
| 0:02.8 | We are building the tech workforce, who deliver results fast, accelerated by top-tier content. |
| 0:08.6 | Lead with confidence, lead with expertise. |
| 0:11.1 | Visit us at Pluralsight.com to tap in and learn more. |
| 0:16.3 | The Life of a Christmas tree seller. |
| 0:19.8 | From Marketplace, I'm Sabri Beneshore in for David Brancaccio. |
| 0:23.7 | First, the holiday shopping season is in full swing. |
| 0:27.9 | We got retail sales numbers yesterday from the Census Bureau, and they were unexpectedly flat. |
| 0:33.2 | Marketplace's Nancy Marshall-Genzor joins us now live with a consumer pulse check. |
| 0:37.1 | Hi, Nancy. |
| 0:38.0 | Good morning. |
| 0:39.2 | So these numbers were actually from October, so a little late, but lots of people had |
| 0:44.0 | started their holiday shopping season by that point. |
| 0:46.9 | So what does this report tell us? |
| 0:49.4 | Well, you know, it's true. |
| 0:50.5 | Consumer spending barely budged in October. |
| 0:53.1 | It was virtually unchanged from September, |
| 0:55.8 | but it's still solid. People say they're worried about things like inflation and job security, |
| 1:00.8 | but then they go out and spend. What are people spending on? What are the top sellers this year? |
| 1:08.0 | Well, the most popular things right now are furniture, home furnishings, and that's |
| 1:13.3 | closely followed by sports hobbies, books and music, clothing, electronics, and appliance sales |
| 1:18.9 | are also healthy. So, you know, your typical holiday gifts. What are we skimping on? What are we |
... |
Transcript will be available on the free plan in 24 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from American Public Media, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of American Public Media and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2025.