It’s the most wonderful time — to go broke for a Christmas tree. Manhattan vendor Soho Trees is slinging what seems to be the city’s most expensive Tannenbaum: $6,500 for a single 20-foot Fraser fir. That’s the same as three Luis Vuitton bags. “A 20-footer will set you back about $6,500 including delivery and installation,” said Scott Lechner, sales manager of the Soho Trees lot at the corner of Varick and Canal Streets. But the longtime tree seller insisted the sky-high price — at $325 per foot — doesn’t faze his clients. “We’re sold out,” he said, adding that the big timbers were mostly bought out by customers with penthouses, as well as some going into building lobbies.
But head a few blocks east and you’ll “only” pay $2,000 for a 20-footer at East Village’s Tree Riders NYC , according to a worker. The hefty price tags can be blamed on a shortage of the favored Fraser fir this year. During the economic crash of 2008, farmers in North Carolina’s Smokey and the Blue Ridge Mountains planted fewer Frasers, resulting in fewer of the trees now reaching maturity, according to the National Christmas Tree Association spokesperson Doug Hundley.
At Manhattan’s Tyler’s Trees , which has a storefront on 10th Avenue and 44th Street, a single 16-foot Fraser fir will run you $1,499 including delivery, installation, and set-up. Tree sellers at Uptown Christmas Trees , which has 19 spread throughout upper Manhattan, have raised the price of their 12-foot Frasers […]
