If you think being gifted a brand-new car with a comically-sized bow on top is confined to the fiction of movies and TV, then you’d be wrong. As it turns out, giant bows are big business, with one company even going so far as to develop an alternative suction mount to avoid damaging the paint (magnets scratch, don’t you know).
But this year, bow sales are down, which some worry is just another of those signs we’re heading into a recession. With fewer people buying new cars to gift loved ones, the knock-on effects also extend to the bow-making industry.
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At King Sized Bows, for instance, sales are down some 35 percent this holiday season. The bow shop sells thousands of plus-sized bows to car dealerships every year, but hundreds of orders have been lost in 2022. Car Bow Store in Warminster, Pa reports sales have declined this year too. And a Lexus dealership in Whippany N.K, confirms the fears — they’ve cut back on bows because fewer people are buying new cars, and inventories remain low.
According to the Wall Street Journal, the “bow-cession” is in line with what the auto industry is experiencing overall this year. According to J.D. Power. U.S. car sales are projected to reach 13.7 million by the end of the year, down from 14.9 million in 2021. Meanwhile, repossession rates are rising, with more consumers falling behind on subprime car loans and inflation pushing gas, insurance, and repair costs sky-high.
But it’s not all doom and gloom for sellers of the giant bows. One even thinks that the throttled supply of new cars has helped their venture. Golden Openings says their car-bow sales have increased by 40 percent over the holidays. They reason that, with fewer cars on forecourts, each sale is treated as an event. “A lot of dealerships tell me they can’t even get the cars in,” says owner Kimberly Baeth. “But when they do, they want to make it extra special.”