Sleigh it ain't so! Company that rents out Santas warns of 'national shortage' ahead of Christmas
FORT WORTH, TEXAS: Due to a 30% increase in demand and 2,250 employment positions nationwide for roleplaying as Saint Nick, a company that leases out Santas has declared that there is a "national shortage." The Covid pandemic and the retirement of senior staff members have made it difficult for HireSanta, which made an appearance on NBC's Shark Tank about 11 months ago, to handle the large level of inquiries this season.
Many Americans are eager to reclaim traditions that may have been lost during isolation during the coronavirus pandemic which is one of the reasons for Santa's recent surge in popularity. “If you're hunting for a Santa on a weekend, it might be too late this year, but we're already having people who are wanting to book Santa for 2023,” CEO Mitch Allen told FOX 59 in Indianapolis. “For every Santa that reaches out to us, there are 20 open positions that we have,” he added. “We are seeing a tremendous amount of demand for Santa Claus entertainment this holiday season,” Allen told Daily Mail. Larry Shaw, widely known as ‘the Circle City Santa', has been an elf in the state capital of Indiana for the past 44 years. He asserts that this holiday season is keeping him the busiest out of all he has seen so far. “Weekends from Friday night all the way to Sunday night, I've got time to go home and go to bed and get up and start over again,” he told FOX 59.
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The pioneer of the Santa-for-hire business added that during the past two or three months, he has had to work almost every day. Christmas-related festivities take place on most weekdays and throughout the course of every weekend. “I've got a few spots here and there I can fit people in,” Shaw said, stressing that the only availability he has left is mostly on weekdays. “There are still a lot of places where there are public appearances, a lot of your malls are still doing it,” he added, pointing out that some of his colleagues have hung up their black boots and red coats due to concerns over the intensity of the job and concerns stemming from COVID-19. “They're getting older, and they don't want to take the risk.”
Another Indianapolis-based Santa, Craig Stone, claims that business is up between 50 and 75 percent from the previous year. IBRBS, a global membership group of about 2,000 professional Saint Nick actors, reports that in 2021, Santa and Mrs. Claus impersonators worked 20% more than they did before the COVID-19 pandemic began in 2019. In addition, there has been a spike in demand to rent Santas from all different backgrounds, according to Allen who asked for $200,000 in exchange for a 10% ownership in his company on Shark Tank. “There has been a huge increase in demand for Black Santas, Hispanic Santas, even ASL, or American Sign Language Santas, and Mrs. Clauses,” Allen told FOX 59. HireSanta is a Fort Worth, Texas-based company that supplies Santas for rent.
