Seen & Heard: Shopping for a Christmas Tree

••• Tom Galis’s new Greek restaurant at the former Canali Club space inside Truffles Tribeca will include a Greek retail bakery.

••• From J.: “Yesterday, I was walking on the west side of W. Broadway at Warren and caught a whiff of a horrible stench. Today, I was walking on the east side of W. Broadway , and again, the same horrible smell. This smells far worse than a rotting garbage kind of smell. Has anyone written in about it? Any info?”

••• The Flea has moved into its new theater complex at 20 Thomas. I look forward to a tour when it’s ready!

••• Alex reached out to Buddha Bar to find out when it might open, and the word was September.

••• Still no guesses for Where in Tribeca…?

••• K. reports on her experience shopping for a Christmas tree: “We decided we would go for an eight-foot tree, so we walked around the neighborhood to see who had the best selection. The deli at Reade and Hudson has prices on the trees, which is nice to know before purchasing. The trees at Whole Foods aren’t quite big enough, and there always seems to be a wait. We found the perfect one at Soho Trees on Greenwich between Chambers and Reade—until the gentleman picked off a piece, stared at it, smelled it, went into his trailer, and came out to quote us the price. Yup…. $295 plus applicable tax and $20 per box of lights, which we would require seven of. The math didn’t make sense. We politely said that was a bit much, since one block away the very same trees are $85. The response was, ‘We are the only place with first-grade trees, everyone else has third-grade trees.’ Well, we are quite happy with our third-grade tree and a couple hundred dollars still in our pocket.” (Below: a favorite Christmas tree pic from years past.)

christmas-tree-on-cortlandt-alley-copy

 

6 Comments

  1. We bought our tree from Whole Foods for the past 3 years. I know you looked there and didn’t think their trees are big enough. I have to say they have the best “first-grade” trees in the area, with a great price to match ($65 for a 7.5 – 8 foot tree!). The tress I’ve purchased at Whole Foods look and smell great up until MLK day. Yes, you do have a wait a bit in line but everyone who works there is super nice and don’t want to rip you off. I’ve bought trees from the Canadian on West Broadway and Leonard, and a 6 ft tree is $100 and dries out and dies before Christmas.

  2. The guys at Soho Tree’s (on both Greenwich and the one on Spring and 6th) are the worst. I bought a tree on Greenwich last year and it was dead within the month. The year before I bought the most beautiful tree I’ve had from the one on Spring, but at a price of $200. Never again. Funny enough I was at a bar with one of the Soho Tree salesman who was telling me how they basically make up prices, saying “If we dont like your face, it’s $20 extra.”

  3. I smelled the stench too. Same location. Like walking into someone’s mouth who hasn’t brushed their teeth in years. Actually thought it was someone’s bad breath the first time I smelled it, but then smelled it again an hour later in the same spot.

  4. re the Stench – yep, I caught a wiff of it yesterday and it was really strong and concentrated. went away almost as quickly as it came. I thought it was only me, but I guess there were others just as lucky!

    re Soho Trees – THE WORST!! DON’T ever buy from them! They overcharge like crazy and the tree I bought from them last year didn’t even take in any water. It was dried and pretty much dead about 2 or 3 weeks after I brought it home. This year I bought from Whole Foods when they had the two day special after thanksgiving. 7-8 foot trees for $30. Can’t beat that anywhere and the tree was fresh and still going strong!

  5. I so agree, those guys from Soho Tree display such attitude and the pricing has become unrelatable. We randomly decided to buy a tree last Saturday and went no further than a beautiful 80$ tree at Morgan’s Market. We love love love our tree. Third grade or not, I have never seen a tree with such an amount of fresh green branches even at the very buttom of the tree. So you guys from Soho Tree – keep your First grade ones to yourself, good luck.

  6. I was looking for a small tree, 3ft or 4ft. Soho tree quoted $89?! For a baby tree?! Totally agree, they are the absolute worst. Every year I go to check their prices and it’s the same – outrageous. I’m surprised people even buy from them, esp with WF right next door.

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