Over the past three or four years, we’ve heard from retailers – particularly, but not exclusively, patio retailers – that traffic is down, but sales are up due to customers purchasing high-end products.

Last year, a major topic of conversation and concern was the 2,000-plus wildfires burning in British Columbia, and polluting the air in places such as Vancouver to the extent that it was said to be “worse than that in Beijing.”

Unique garden terraces, lively music spilling into the streets, exceptional cuisine centered around open-flame cooking... New Orleans is the city that celebrates the very indoor-outdoor lifestyle that our industry creates.

New Products at the 2019 High Point Market.

In early August, Hearth & Home faxed a survey to 2,500 specialty retailers of hearth, patio, and barbecue products, asking them to compare August 2019 sales to August 2018. The accompanying charts and selected comments are from the 182 usable returns.