JOHN YANG: This year, it may not be the Grinch who threatens to steal Christmas.

It could be tick tariffs.

By some estimates, almost 90 percent of Christmas decorations and artificial Christmas trees are made in China and subject to President Trump's tariffs.

According to analysis by LendingTree.

If this year's tariffs were in place last year, it would have increased consumer costs by $28 billion.

That's about $130 per shopper.

Nathan Gordon is president of Christmas Central, an online retailer of seasonal products.

Mr.

Gordon, what effect are you seeing of the tariffs in your business?

NATHAN GORDON, President, Christmas Central: Well, first and foremost, we're seeing prices are up across the board and our company is doing the best we can to mitigate those prices.

But we're also seeing almost a tale of two different economies here where the higher end spenders and higher end items are selling at their normal pace.

And then we're seeing almost a drop in sales of the middle tier products and seeing people shift to the lower end products.

JOHN YANG: You say you're trying to mitigate these higher prices or higher cost.

What are you doing?

NATHAN GORDON: Well, over the past summer, we have found ways to be more efficient in our operations so we could pass those savings on to the consumer.

And then ultimately our company is trying to just absorb as much of them as we can.

JOHN YANG: Now, some retailers had stockpiled inventory before Inauguration Day.

Were you able to do that?

NATHAN GORDON: We did about as much as we can, but we're not a big box retailer.

We are still a family owned business.

So we don't have as deep of pockets as the big box retailers to bring in that sheer amount of goods and have them sit for 9, 10, 11 months.

JOHN YANG: You talked about sort of the two tiers of customers.

You're seeing a lot of polls showing people worried about affordability, worried about high prices.

Are you seeing the effects of that?

NATHAN GORDON: Absolutely.

We're definitely seeing a decrease.

Like I said, in those middle tier items.

For example, the 15 foot, 14 foot Christmas trees which someone might put into a larger house or a new build, we're seeing those sell very rapidly this year.

But those middle tier items, they're just not buying like they used to.

We're seeing the customers buying a lot of smaller trinkets.

JOHN YANG: Now you're called Christmas Central, but you do all holidays.

How is this affecting your thinking about Valentine's Day and Easter?

NATHAN GORDON: We have less product for those holidays this year.

You know, Christmas, we buy the Christmas items basically in December, the year before Christmas.

So that was all before inauguration.

So we didn't plan on having these high tariffs.

Our Valentine's Day, our summer or other items are bought over the summer.

So because those tariffs are in place and the uncertainty we have going forward, we decreased the amount were buying of those other holiday items.

JOHN YANG: Is the holiday spirit among your customers any different this year than it has been in the past?

NATHAN GORDON: Well, you know, Christmas is a very happy time of year for everyone.

So, you know, people love decorating their homes, buying everything, and we're seeing a slowdown in that.

So it's really troublesome to see that you're supposed to have a really happy time of year.

People are being pinched and maybe can't decorate as much this year as they would in previous years.

JOHN YANG: What advice do you have for shoppers who are out now trying to buy decorations for Christmas?

NATHAN GORDON: Well, hopefully they're still in stock because I know from the big box retailers they didn't stock as much this year.

So if you're looking for a sale, I don't know how many of them are going to exist.

So I would say hurry up and buy it now before everything's sold out.

JOHN YANG: Nathan Gordon, president of Christmas Central, thank you very much.

NATHAN GORDON: Thank you for having me.