By Carlie Cass
Easter is commercialized like many other holidays. Consumers spend billions buying crafty and colorful retail products and food including: eggs, candy and baskets.
“I’m a sucker for buying gifts for my family,” said College of Southern Nevada student Sandra Ellison. “I went to the store for eggs and everything else came after the fact.” Ellison spent $50 on candy, eggs, plants and cards for her family this year.
According to the National Retail Federation, one of the world’s largest retail trade associations, the average person celebrating Easter spent $140.62 on retail products.
In 2015 the industry made $16.4 billion in Easter sales including apparel, household decorations, candy, food and flowers, according to NRF.
That same year, $2.2 billion of the total sales was for candy and chocolate. Famous treats like Peeps, jelly beans and chocolate bunnies sold in high volumes as nearly 90 percent of consumers bought them, according to NRF.
Consumers chose to head to the stores with 58.6 percent purchasing Easter products from local discount stores such as 99 Cents Only Stores while 18.8 percent of buyers chose to shop online at stores like eBay, according to that same report.
“I bought a premade basket for my kid and some Easter candy on the side for my sister,” CSN student Shannon Buchmiller said. “I spent around $70 this Easter on retail products.”
“I bought candy and eggs for the kids in my family,” CSN student Vivian Kimm said. “I want them to experience each holiday no matter how silly it is and show them that you can have fun with anything, even plastic eggs.”
“I made baskets for a couple of my friends because that’s just the kind of friend I am,” CSN student Nelson Melara said.
Other shoppers bought food for family gatherings.
“I purchased a ham for dinner and a cake for dessert but I’ll wait until the candy is half-off before I buy any,” said Laura Clark, who works for CSN.
Coyote Student News at the College of Southern Nevada 