“We budget ourselves as a nine-month company, and then any income we can generate outside of that is just added, extra income that we can’t count on,” owner Lowell Rolsky said.

In the past, their extra income was mainly generated through snow removal, but in recent years, snowfall has been unpredictable and minimal at best.

So for the past six years, the employees have decorated homes and businesses for the holidays, as a means to provide work for the 35 year-round employees. “We couldn’t afford to let our employees go out and look for jobs elsewhere because they might not want to come back,” Rolsky said.

The company operates a Christmas Decor franchise, which has allowed it to retain employees, utilize equipment and generate revenue from October through January, typically a slow period for the industry.

Decorating now is about 15 percent of Michael’s revenue, Maloy said.

Christmas Decor has 375 franchises nationwide. Blake Smith founded the company in Lubbock, Texas, in 1986 to keep his business, Quality Lawn Care, running during the winter. Holiday decorating eventually made up almost half its profit, and Smith started franchising in 1996 with seven locations.

After five years, franchises typically bring in $170,000 to $190,000 during a 75-day decorating season, with an average profit of 23 percent or 24 percent of that, Stephens said. Franchisees pay $15,000 to $20,000 to start a Christmas Decor operation.