As seen in Garden Center Magazine

Décor for your demographics

Frank D’Aguanno has been a Christmas décor and gift buyer for years, so he’s no stranger to trying out new holiday motifs. Serving as the designer at Feeny's in Pennsylvania, for nearly a decade before taking on the position of hardgoods and gift buyer at Farmington Gardens just outside of Portland, Oregon, he’s always exploring what’s new in holiday décor.

D’Aguanno’s strategy is to offer 50% traditional themes and half new options.

Woodland lodge is a theme he includes every year with Buffalo plaids, cabins, ski, lakeside and camping motifs. “But this year, they really expanded on the whole rustic and woodland theme. They really played with a lot of Pacific Northwest-feeling product,” he says, noting that those items are perfect for his new locale in Oregon. “So I was able to run with that because of the area I’m in now.”

While the traditional Christmas motifs of snowmen, Santa and gingerbread men will never go away, D’Aguanno says it’s retailers’ job to inspire customers. For example, customers will always want to feel warm and cozy during the holidays, so D’Aguanno took inspiration from a vendor in the Netherlands to spice up the woodland theme with some Bohemian flair.

“[The Netherlands is] about two years ahead of us in the market, so they always give you a little bit of a cutting-edge look and still have it fit in with what a lot of the American brands are presenting,” he says.

So D’Aguanno is going to offer more of a fall angle this season with mushrooms and woodland creatures, and out-of-the-ordinary colors like periwinkle, brown copper and pine green. He’s also going to be experimenting with a natural, neutral palette of creams, whites and light browns. “So it’s going to be a monochromatic theme,” he says. “I’m going to glitz it up a bit probably with some gold and crystal but keep it neutral.”

D’Aguanno finds inspiration in home and fashion magazines, as well as wholesale marketplaces like AmericasMart. And he’s always looking at color.

“Also, it’s really about demographic,” he says. “You can’t sell something that’s a very New York look where I was in Bucks County [Pennsylvania] or where I am now in Washington country,” he says. But knowing that Portland has a large Latinx population, he’s experimenting with Frida Kahlo and lucha libre themes this year.

Knowing your demographic means considering age as well. While older customers tend to go for the traditional or vintage looks, younger shoppers aren’t necessarily looking for a traditional Christmas with red and green glitter, and elves. Millennials are looking for options that will match their existing home décor as well as their personality as well as options that will work throughout the winter, rather than just the Christmas season.

Those nondenominational themes are also trending among younger generations, who tend to be less religious than their older counterparts. D’Aguanno suggests artificial and live greens, textiles, blankets, vases, containers, lanterns and candle holders as items that can all help create a winter theme that lasts through the new year and beyond.