From Dave Brigham:
The Year Without a Christmas Tree Shop
Do They Know the Christmas Tree Shops Are Closed?
It's the Least Wonderful Time of the Year
Happy Xmas (The Christmas Tree Shops is Over)
Run Rudolph Run (Oh, Nevermind, the Christmas Tree Shops Are Closed)
Maybe there was a labor dispute with the toymakers of the North Pole. Or a rift between executives about whether to expand their market to include items celebrating Krampus. Maybe it was all due to a Festivus celebration that got out of hand. Whatever the reason, the Christmas Tree Shops retail chain closed all of its outlets earlier this year.
I never set foot in one of the company's stores -- there were 72 at the peak of success, located in 20 states, mostly in the Northeast. In addition to the expected Christmas-y crap, the store sold bargain items such as food, household furnishings and toys. I drove past perhaps the most iconic of the shops, just over the Sagamore Bridge in Bourne, Mass., many times. I got a kick out of the faux-European barn/chalet architecture, which looked so out of place along Cape Cod Route 6.
Built in 1984 (a big part of me wishes it was 1894), the store wasn't the flagship of the retail chain, but its design set the tone for how some future outlets would look. The store in Pembroke, Mass., for instance, looks like a fraternal twin to the Bourne outlet. Wikipedia indicates that "[m]ost stores typically resembled older buildings (Colonial, Victorian, or even Old English barn styles, such as in Sagamore and Pembroke, Massachusetts; and Warwick, Rhode Island). Some, such as the Lynnfield, Massachusetts store, were even more conceptualized; that store was known for its lighthouse and fishing village motif."
The Bourne property -- 4.2 acres and including a large parking lot and a windmill (!) -- was assessed at $3.5 million this year.
The windmill added to the rustic European charm, and is remembered fondly by folks at this Reddit thread. "As far as I know, it's always been a Christmas Tree Shop and built that way to fit in with the location. I'm now in my 30's and remember watching the windmill turning from the inside when my mom took me shopping there as a kid," recalled moosetopenguin.
At one time, and perhaps still, the topper on the main buildng was the largest thatched roof in the world. The store's owners hired craftsmen from Ireland to do the job, from accounts I've seen online.
The roots of the Christmas Tree Shops are on Cape Cod. "What became known as Christmas Tree Shop began as an idea of Charles and Alyce Matthews of Yarmouth Port," according to the In My Footsteps blog. "In July 1946 33-year-old Charles and 37-year-old Alyce came to the Cape from New York. They purchased a home and a small store at the corner of Willow Street and Route 6A in Yarmouth Port that had previously been a grocery store owned by Harry Davidson."
(I found another write-up about the history of the company, in which the couple is referred to as "Mark and Alice Mathews." Sigh....a quick search turned up a few sources using either set of names, but clearly originating from these stories I've linked above. The In My Footsteps article seems to be more well-researched than the other.)
Regardless, here's the quick story after those two people started the business: The husband and wife team expanded the Yarmouth site by taking over some other space, and renaming the new store The Christmas Tree Shop. In 1961 the couple lost the store through a bankruptcy proceeding. In 1970, Charles and Doreen Bilezikian purchased the store, and within a few years had opened other outlets on the Cape. At one point, the company purchased the Cape Cod Coliseum to use as a warehouse (!).
In 2003, the Bilezikians sold out to Bed Bath & Beyond. "Under Bed Bath & Beyond, the chain began to expand beyond New England, arriving in Bed Bath & Beyond's native New Jersey, followed by Delaware and Pennsylvania," according to Wikipedia. "The chain entered the Midwest, with stores in Michigan and Ohio."
In late 2020, BB&B sold Christmas Tree Shops to Handil Holdings, a private company. Wikipedia brings us to the sad ending, the coal in the stocking if you will:
"On May 4, 2023...Christmas Tree Shops announced that it was preparing to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection; the chain and its parent company, Handil Holdings, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy the next day....Ten underperforming stores were closed following the filing, in hopes of allowing the company to restructure operations and emerge from bankruptcy by August. However, after the company defaulted on a loan used for its restructuring, it was eventually announced that unless a buyer could be found for the chain by July 5, the chain would liquidate and close all remaining stores. With no buyer found, liquidation sales began at all stores nationwide on July 7, with gift cards and coupons being honored through July 21."
So what has become of this building since it was abandoned by Santa Claus? As Boston.com put it in its headline for a story about the new tenant, "Iconic Christmas Tree Shops location will become...Exactly what you probably think it will: Christmas is out, Halloween is in."
Yes, Spirit Halloween has replaced wreaths and bows and stockings and non-holiday junk with fake blood, sexy nun costumes and decorations designed to scare the crap out of you.
For more about the town of Bourne, see:
July 23, 2022, "Bourne On the 7th of July"
August 11, 2020, "What You Find When You Go Down Depot Road"
July 19, 2020, "Kickin' It Old School-house"
July 20, 2017, "Circling Buzzards Bay"
October 3, 2016, "Bourne Identity."
August 5, 2010, "Dark Side of the Motel"
July 28, 2010, "Two Hearts Beat As One"
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