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Seen & Heard: Carini Lang Has Changed Its Name
••• Carini Lang has changed its name after 15 years: It’s now Joseph Carini Carpets.
••• T. sent a pic of the Verizon building at 375 Pearl—its reskinning is in process. Rendering here.
••• I went to the Regal Battery Park cinema over the weekend to see The Big Short—it’s worth seeing (and how come no one is talking about Christian Bale’s performance?). Anyway, a sign at the ticket-taker’s outpost says that backpacks, packages, and anything along those lines is now prohibited. How that differs from a large purse is something I’m unclear on. P.S. M1-5 on Walker makes an appearance in the film.
••• There’s work going on inside 150 Chambers…. Anyone know what’s up?
••• “I wanted to see if you’ve heard any complaints about the new Christmas tree vendor at Greenwich and Chambers,” emailed a reader. “I spend nearly $500 with them only to have both my wreath and tree shed tons of needles from day 1 onward. I returned my first wreath because every time I opened and closed my door, I had to vacuum the needles. My tree never really opened up and it shed most of its needles. I only had it up for three weeks. I think the quality was way down from the prior vendor and the prices way up.” Anyone have issues with the quality this year? Also, one reason the prices may have been higher was that the city raised the rent. UPDATE: Several commenters had bad experiences; see below.
••• Opening tomorrow at Soho Photo: Five solo shows (Ronaldo Aguiar, Lee Backer, F. Emmanuel Bastien, Martin Frank, Steven Gilbert).
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I also bought a 7 ft Frazier Fur Tree from Soho Trees at Greenwich & Chamber Street, the tree was not fresh and the amount of needles that came off was ridiculous! I almost thought about throwing the tree away before Christmas because I couldn’t keep up with the fallen needles! I was charged $220 for the tree far more than last year and the quality of tree was terrible for a Frazier fur.
I used to buy my trees there, and the prices were egregious even before the city raised the rent. I find the trees from Whole Foods to be much more affordable (they were all $65 the day I went), even if they don’t have as much variety. Once the ornaments and lights go up, nobody really notices the tree anyway!
Very dissapointed in the trees on greenwich this year! We bought a small 6 foot Fraser Fir this year and it would not drink water. Began to shed a few days later. My parents bought a 12 foot that did the same. NEVER AGAIN.
here’s from my yelp review of Soho Trees at Greenwich and Murray-
I went by the Greenwich St stand in Tribeca today and picked out a tree and was quote $265 for tree, stand and delivery and that it would be delivered within an hour. Three hours later I called and there was a big scramble of confusion of the tree and my order delivery. 2 hours go by and the tree finally shows up and two guys put it up in the stand and told me it was $445! I explained that I had been quoted the other price and that this was ridiculous and they told me whoever the guy was that quoted me the original price was ‘the night guy and didn’t know’ and that this was a $445 tree…
So the alternative would be for them to take the tree down and return it to the stand and for them to find me a tree at the original price I was quoted and to return and install it..considering I’d already been waiting for this tree for 5 hours and that I had to leave the apt and figured it would take at least 2-4 more hours to return this tree and have the new (correct) one brought in…I paid this ridiculous amount of money to have the guys leave.
Yes, I am an IDIOT. My only recourse is to suggest that you
DO NOT BUY A TREE FROM THIS COMPANY.
and to reply more specifically to the original comment- Yes..this tree was deader than dead early on. I think it initially appeared fresh because we’d had those few days of rain end of nov/beg of dec so all the trains were soaked..but after it was set up it stopped taking water during the first week.
Wow, I was the one who started this thread. I never liked what I paid the former vendor but the trees were always high quality and fresh. The new vendor told me that they used to have the contract before the prior company and that they just won the contract back this year. I asked how they got selected. He said through Department of Parks and Rec. I plan to lodge a formal complaint. Maybe at least, they won’t be back next year.
Whole Foods has the best Christmas tree deal in TriBeCa!
I second Whole Foods – for the last couple of years they have done a one day half price deal on their 7-8ft trees when they first arrive after Thanksgiving, so you can pick one up for $35. Ours lasted really well this year.
Jin Market (or whatever that market is called this week) delivers lovely, quality trees, although the prices are a bit higher than the trees at Whole Foods. I don’t mind paying extra to get the delivery (I don’t think While Foods delivers) and also support a local independent business. Our 10′ tree was $120 – probably 1/3 of what we would have paid at the Chambers/Greenwich vendor.
WF delivered (including spending 15 minutes mounting the tree and not getting tired adjusting it until it was perfectly aligned) and had by far the best price. Even the quality was outstanding which I wasn’t expecting for the price.
I too was fleeced by the Tree Grifter.
We bought a tree from them for $300, then got immediately angry about paying $300 for a dead tree and returned it for a refund before it was delivered. We then bought a better tree at Amish Market for $60. Just because you can spend 5x as much for something in Tribeca doesn’t mean you should; common sense folks. This vendor should be run out of business if they return next year.
probem solved get a fake tree. you’ll save a lot time both before and after. #firstworldproblems
I think anyone that’s bought a tree from Soho Trees on Greenwich and Chambers knows to never buy from them again.
I bought a tree from them this year and learned my lesson. The prices are ridiculous and the quality is horrible.
The reason your trees lost all of their needles this year is because it was 70+ degrees in December. The trees sat on the sidewalk without water and baked in the heat, which has a very high correlation to needle loss. I wont comment on the prices you paid, but my $30 8 footer from Whole Foods is still as fresh as the day I picked it up…
Wow, my husband and I also had a terrible experience with this Christmas tree vendor. We have lived in Tribeca for over fifteen years and we have always bought our tree on that corner. As someone else on this email chain has said, the trees were always expensive but were very good quality. Additionally, I always thought the people who worked there were very nice. But this year when my husband and I inquired about the price of a certain tree, the salesmen refused to answer the question about the price and instead went into a song and dance about where the tree had come from. This happened three or four times before my husband politely asked the salesman to stop all the other nonsense and just answer the question about the price, to which the salesmen responded, “Oh, you’re price conscious, are you?” At that point I said to the salesman, “You’re not the same vendor who was here last year, are you?” And then, as Barbara mentioned, the salesmen told me his company had recently won the contract for that corner back from the previous company. Frankly, I don’t believe him. 1) I’ve been buying trees on that corner for 15 years and the salespeople have never been that rude nor the trees that expensive and 2) I’ve seen “Soho Trees” selling on the corner of Canal and 6th Ave. for as long as I can remember. Anyway, we decided to buy our tree elsewhere this year and found a lovely salesman on the corner of West Broadway and Leonard, a French Canadian with dreads and a lovely personality. We ended up with an 8-footer for $200 bucks. It was in beautiful condition, did not lose any needles and was still very much alive when I took it down yesterday afternoon. From now on, we’ll get our trees from him and I would highly suggest everyone else in the neighborhood to do the same.
One advantage of being Jewish, I guess, to sidestep the annual Xmas-tree anxiety!