Christmas Tree Shops closes its doors, ending a shopping era

It was the close of a browsing period for numerous in Massachusetts. Quite a few people who visited Cape Cod ended up stopping at the thatched-roof Xmas Tree Outlets and its nearby windmill just soon after crossing the Cape Cod Canal on the Sagamore Bridge. It was a ceremony of passage.

Saturday, that period ended with the closing of the remaining Xmas Trees Retailers chain of retail merchants nationwide. With every little thing in the keep for sale and marked down 50 to 90 percent off, undoubtedly crowds of rabid purchasers would force their way into the front doors as they opened, grabbing and fighting more than the previous remnants of what little products remained. Or, not so considerably.

Lauren Judson, of Longmeadow, was the 1st to get there at the final working day of income at the Holyoke Crossing place. She pulled in at about 8:25 a.m., 35 minutes prior to the keep opened.

“I’m shocked I am the only particular person below suitable now,” she claimed, scanning the vacant parking large amount. “I arrived early simply because you never know if you are likely to uncover a long line.”

Judson claimed she agreed to get a distinct merchandise for her mother.

“My mom really wished anything that does not get marked down until right now and she’s away,” she reported. “Plus, I am curious to see what is left.”

According to staff, a liquidation firm has experienced control of the Xmas Tree Stores for the previous six months or so. The company’s management declined to discuss with The Republican.

Lymaris Torres and her son, Yevian, arrived on the lookout for a cut price.

“We are listed here purchasing for the stuff that’s likely for genuinely low-cost,” Yevian spoke for his mom.

She actually liked shopping at the Christmas Tree Stores, Yevian reported.

“Most of our furniture came from listed here,” he mentioned.

Kristen Oliveira drove out from Ludlow to store on the previous day. She was not a habitual shopper but remembers shopping with her family.

“I have a ton of recollections of the shop when it was inside the shopping mall, and shopping with my mom and grandmother when I was youthful,” she claimed. “So, I just had to occur out for the final working day.”

The authentic Christmas Trees Stores locale in Holyoke was in the close by Holyoke Mall. On the other hand, in 2003, the previous Mattress Bathtub and Past retail chain acquired out the founding family members. With Mattress Tub and Beyond’s demise and the closure of its keep in the Holyoke Crossing plaza, the corporation moved the Christmas Tree Stores there.

The first store on Route 6A in Cape Cod was shut in 2007.

In 2020 Mattress, Bathtub and Beyond marketed the Xmas Tree Stores to Handil Holding, a private corporation. The new proprietors tried using to modify the branding of the Xmas Trees Retailers by rechristening the chain as CTS.

In May well 2023, next the collapse of its previous mum or dad corporation, Mattress, Bath and Over and above, CTS submitted for Chapter 11 bankruptcy to restructure. Nonetheless, following a bank loan payment was skipped, the enterprise altered its bankruptcy to Chapter 7 and began liquidating.

Pat Obuchowski and her husband Anthony drove from Chicopee just to see what was remaining in the retail outlet.

“I shopped right here regularly,” Pat said, “and considering the fact that this is the very last day, we thought we would see what they had left. I cherished the Christmas Trees stores. I will truly miss it.”

Doreen and Dave Langevin, of Easthampton, pulled into the parking whole lot just right after 9 a.m. They came to see if there were being any bargains.

“I bought all my decorations here,” Doreen explained.

Dave mirrored that this closure may be the commencing of a downturn.

“This is the signal of the situations,’ he said. “It is just likely to get even worse.”

Elena and Damian Martinez stumbled on the Xmas Tree Outlets closing following they stopped at the close by Petco for dog meals.

“I did not know it was the last day,” Elena explained. “We were just coming to acquire doggy foods and we wondered if it was nevertheless below. What is still left in there?”

Not a ton, essentially. Katharine Pacella and James Benson took advantage of the absence of merchandise and acquired fixtures from the keep, plastic shipping and delivery pallets to be certain.

“We are going to use them to make a ground-level deck,” Katharine mentioned.

“I don’t know if I can talk about this without the need of crying,” Denise Deslaurier said when requested about the shop’s’ previous day. “I have been coming here because I was a minimal kid and then I labored listed here stocking on a person of the initially overnight crews. And, each time we went to Cape Cod we would constantly go to the Christmas Trees Retailers. I have been browsing in this article since I was a baby.”

Deslaurier mentioned the common started to fade absent during the COVID pandemic. What she remembered of the Xmas Tree Outlets was not there any longer.

“After COVID it was not the identical when they moved right here (to Holyoke Crossing). They switched homeowners and they could not acquire something. We did not halt coming but we did not see as much as we utilised to see. They utilized to have a large amount of distinct items from various places, really exclusive crafty matters from the past. But they did not have it any more.”