Christmas is a time for spreading joy.
For some in Bermuda, that means celebrating the festive season in a very public way by turning their home into a winter wonderland with bright lights, inflatable figures and lighted Christmas ornaments to delight children and have passers-by honking their approval.
At Masters Home Centre, Terry Ebbin and Eugenia Burton are the buyers charged with ordering Christmas goods for sale to island consumers.
Ms Ebbin, vice president of retail operations, said: “I have a few customers that come in here, and they just find it a joy when they see people stopping by their home. They even allow them in the yard to see them.
“Because they’re bringing joy to the passers-by, they like that. It’s rewarding to them that people find it exciting, and they see a long line of traffic slowed down and just seeing the items in their yard.”
Among the flashier items for sale at Masters are a variety of inflatables, including a snowman, a traditional Santa Claus, and a semi-tropical Santa hard at work at a barbecue.
Bright lights are a mainstay, too, from trimming the roof line of a home to covering bushes in the yard with net lights.
Ms Ebbin said: “We also have little yard candy canes – yard lights that you put on your pavement, coming up your walkway.
“We have candy canes and other little lighted ornaments that you can put down to draw attention to your yard.
“We also have loads of lights on reels that you can keep up all year round. You just don’t have to have it for Christmas. They are in different size bulbs, whether you want it to be stationary or twinkling.”
Long-time favourites
While some trends come and go, a popular item in Bermuda continues to be a projector light that shines an image onto the wall of a home.
Ms Ebbin said it can be used year-round; just change the slide and a new image is projected.
“Projector lights are still trending, especially in Bermuda. We still have customers constantly asking for them. They are starting to fade out in the United States because when we were looking for vendors to purchase them from, it wasn’t that easy to find. But here, I very much have the customer for that.”
Among other strong sellers are lighted sculptures that sit on the inside of a window but can be seen from the street – and add to the festive spirit.
Figures include a snowman head, reindeer, Santa head, candy cane, stars, Christmas bells and bulbs – and even a nativity scene.
Ms Ebbin said: “That’s still going very strong, that’s a trend. Stars are still the number one seller.”
She added that consumers in Bermuda take a traditional approach to Christmas shopping, buying tried and true favourites, year-over-year.
“They come in and they know exactly what they’re looking for.”
Many of the Christmas items on sale at Masters are featured in a dedicated section just inside the store’s front door on Dundonald Street in Hamilton that Ms Ebbin said includes “almost everything that you would want for Christmas”.
Additional items, including festive tabletop candle holders, napkin rings and tablecloths, are displayed in the shop’s homeworks section.
Ms Ebbin added: “If you don’t see what you want, you can ask.”
Christmas goods are first displayed just after Labour Day, with peak shopping activity taking place in November, said Ms Ebbin, adding that customers use the US Thanksgiving Day holiday as a marker for when they start putting up their tree and decorating.
Items for sale at Christmas are normally ordered by Masters in January at a locked-in price. Some products are ordered directly from manufacturers in China, while other suppliers are based in France, or Canada.
However, some vendors are US-based, resulting in price fluctuations and some products being unavailable this year due to the on-again, off-again tariffs imposed by US President Donald Trump.
Ms Ebbin said: “Most of our vendors delivered. We had a few items that they wouldn’t bring in because the price went sky high, so we couldn’t bring them in for our customers.
“Vendors were waiting to the last minute to find out, ‘Do they want to pay this? Are they going to get this? Are the tariffs going to go up, or are they going to go down?’”
She added: “I am constantly looking for the best price for my customer. I treat Masters’ dollar like I would my own. I use me as an example. Me as a customer, what do I want to spend?
“I’m constantly on the floor, listening to what customers are asking for. I am constantly looking for something new.”
Better prices to come
In 2026, Ms Ebbin anticipates that some orders will be placed with companies based outside the US. Canada is an attractive proposition due to the absence of tariffs and the weak Canadian dollar.
“What we try to work around is to find companies like in Canada or other places that don’t have to go through the United States so that we can probably get a better price.
“This year, we found a Canadian company that we can get Christmas items from, which I will be ordering from next year.”
Ms Ebbin added: “That’s what we’re looking for, anyone who can ship with avoiding the tariffs, the extra cost, because we want to give our customers the best price. We are constantly looking for the best price.”
