View Full Version : Real Xmas Trees?



JPinTheOKC
12-23-2008, 12:52 PM
Hi I am a new poster here. I joined because I have a rather strange question to ask. Last night my girlfriend and I went out to look for a real Christmas tree and we spent about 2.5 hours driving all over the north side and, if you can believe it, were unable to find one lot that was selling trees. We tried Home Depot and Lowes, but they were sold out.

What in the name of Santa is going on here? How can it be possible that there are no places selling real trees? Coit's has usually done that in the past but I haven't seen any at their locations.

This has got to be the work of Obama! ;-)

bluedogok
12-23-2008, 07:26 PM
I see plenty of them down here and was going to say try Coit's at 39th/I-44 & Penn but then I ran across this article. Horn Seed (NW Expressway & Penn and they had another location at I-240 & Penn) has them, I know I delivered them when I worked there 24 years ago.


News9.com - No Christmas Trees at Coit's This Year (http://www.news9.com/Global/story.asp?S=9455159)
Posted: Dec 3, 2008 08:34 PM
Updated: Dec 4, 2008 10:51 AM
By Colleen Chen, NEWS 9

OKLAHOMA CITY -- Getting a live Christmas tree from Coit's is a tradition many Oklahomans have enjoyed throughout the years, but that tradition was trimmed out this holiday season.

Usually around this time of the year, trees fill the root beer stand's parking lot, ready and waiting for a family to come by and take one home.

In 1953, the doors swung open at the first Coit's location in Oklahoma City.

"We found out pretty quickly that you couldn't just live on what you made in the summer months," owner Ann Coit said.

The business soon began selling Christmas trees they personally selected from farms across the country.

"We just kept buying the best we could find," Coit said.

Buying the best is what has drawn Oklahomans to Coit's on the holidays since the late 1950s.The sense of family bonding was what the late Don Coit loved.

"It worked out perfectly for over 53 years," Ann Coit said.

These days Anne's daughter D'anne Coit is busy working at the root beer stand side of Coit's, but also with answering questions.

"Lots of people are calling, mainly wondering where our tree lots are," D'anne Coit said. "They're looking for the Santa Claus and they can't find it."

The trademark Santa is now in storage, but the decision to put him there wasn't easy.

"I really hate that some of our customers are having to do without a Coit's Christmas tree this year," Ann Coit said.

While kitchen business remained steady, August's high gas prices equaled concern for Coit's tree business.

"That's when we order them and we have to pay for them before they ship," Ann Coit said.

The idea of shipping trucks of trees on steep fuel costs proved too much, which is why they chose not to buy.

Just because the trees didn't make it this year, Ann Coit said it's not the end. She hopes to be able to bring the tradition back next year.

betts
12-23-2008, 11:47 PM
I heard they still had them at TLC, but don't know that for sure.

oneforone
12-24-2008, 03:10 AM
You might try the corner of SW 104th and Santa Fe. Boy Scout Troop 20 sells trees at the church on the NE corner.

It sounds like a knee jerk reaction to me on behalf of the Coit Family.

They could have taken pre orders or reduced the number of trees ordered.

Then again anytime I went to the Coit Lot the prices were outrageous.

Oh GAWD the Smell!
12-24-2008, 04:47 AM
Wow bluedog...That's a pretty sad story.

Gas prices are Bush's fault not Obama's! Blame Bush JP! BLAME BUSH! HE'S IN THE POCKET OF BIG OIL!

davidmchristopher
12-24-2008, 08:23 AM
Here's an article from the Oklahoman on the 20th about the boom in real Christmas tree sales this year which is part of a national trend. Lots of farms were selling out early.

Mobile Breaking Oklahoma News | NewsOK.com (http://www.newsok.com/pining-for-tradition-tree-farms-see-boom-in-oklahoma/article/3331695)

sgt. pepper
12-24-2008, 11:16 AM
try a Christmas tree farm next year, you can cut the tree yourself. there is one south of i-40 on mustang road. one south of el reno on counrty side rd. (i think thats the name of it). there is one in newcastle somewhere. i'm not sure about the north side. it may not be the type of tree you want, but they are good trees grown in oklahoma
and it's a lot of fun for the family picking out your tree.

Generals64
12-26-2008, 05:46 PM
Go south of Noble and buy next years now, they'll let you pick it, pay for it and they will nurture it for you until your ready for Christmas next year.....However, If you don't pick it up next year....they'll gladly sell it to you again....Plan ahead....

soonerguru
12-26-2008, 07:12 PM
It was not the work of Obama!

We sure have a lot of paranoid GOP types here these days. :)

Mrs. Coit told me personally that she was not going to sell trees this year for two reasons:

1. The drought seriously hurt supply and drove up prices.

2. The cost of shipping went up more than 40 percent since last Xmas. (Believe it or not, it has NOT come down in many industries, despite the lower gas prices. "Surcharges" for fuel are still common.)

Oh GAWD the Smell!
12-26-2008, 11:59 PM
No kidding...I've been getting estimates on a new roof for the house, and shingles are astronomical...Not dropping at ALL. Which sucks, because I've got to put a new roof on the house to sell it.

grantgeneral78
12-27-2008, 06:55 AM
We got one by tecumseh for 30 bucks and cut it ourselves it is beautiful.

kevinpate
12-28-2008, 06:27 AM
Some of my fav memories are going out and cutting our own tree. We were big on cedar trees when I was little. No one ever cared to see one of those parasites disappear, but they also smelled oh so good in the house, plus omma loved them 9which sorta explains the monster one growing at the corner of the property, a WHOLE LOTTA corner at that.

Spouse and her pop were out when she was little, target shooting. Found a perfect tree, but no saw. New target acquired and her pop shot that sucker off its base at ground level, trimmed it up once they were back home.

In college we once found one veyr nice tree on a walk, only to discover no rope in the car. threw it on the mini-wagion, threw a blanket over, tucked corners in the windows and held on tight for the drive back to town.

But my all time fav tree of all was not a tree. Christmas 82,Texas panhandle, my first exposure to the greed of folks who were selling evergreens in lots ,,, driving away in disgust, took to open road outside of town to calm myself, and then there it was, right in the road .. a quick stop, a fast grab, a few lights and decorations back at the palace and presto, our first, and only, Christmas tumblweed in honor of our first Christmas together.

CuatrodeMayo
12-28-2008, 06:54 AM
There is a farm to the east out on Midwest Blvd, I believe between 63rd and 50th.

Generals64
12-28-2008, 07:05 AM
Next year (2009) this thread will come alive earlier...let's vow to find the "Perfect" Christmas tree......

metro
12-29-2008, 07:46 AM
Hi I am a new poster here. I joined because I have a rather strange question to ask. Last night my girlfriend and I went out to look for a real Christmas tree and we spent about 2.5 hours driving all over the north side and, if you can believe it, were unable to find one lot that was selling trees. We tried Home Depot and Lowes, but they were sold out.

What in the name of Santa is going on here? How can it be possible that there are no places selling real trees? Coit's has usually done that in the past but I haven't seen any at their locations.

This has got to be the work of Obama! ;-)

I don't find it "odd" that less than 2 days before Christmas you can't find a live tree. Heck, if I was selling them I'd want to be out of them by then. Why would a stand want to get stuck with extra trees on or after Christmas. Their whole purpose is to sell their inventory out. Possibly try getting one a little earlier next year?

hipsterdoofus
12-29-2008, 09:29 AM
Maybe you should ask yourself instead, why do you procrastinate and make it your resolution to not do so next year...

jsibelius
12-29-2008, 01:36 PM
I can see how some might not see putting up a tree 2 days before Christmas as procrastination. I applaud that, while the rest of us put up our decorations at Thanksgiving...and Wal-Mart puts theirs up in July.

But, indeed...it should not come as a surprise that everyone would be sold out, or very nearly so, by that time. Even if you're not putting your tree up until then, you probably need to buy it a little earlier for that reason. As for me, I'll stick with my fake tree. The clean-up afterward, plus the one-time expense, makes it well worth it. I'll get an air-freshener or a candle if I really need the pine smell.

westsidesooner
12-29-2008, 02:04 PM
This is the first year for us to use an artificial tree. In years past we always bought our trees from the coits stand on nw highway or the one at I-44 and penn. While I'll miss not having a real tree, and especially the tradition of going out and wandering around the tree lot (and freezing) for what seemed like hours looking for that perfect tree, only to buy one we saw when we first got there, I'll probably get over it. We ended up getting a tree 1 week before Christmas and got a great deal on it ($120 for a $300 dollar tree). So it will pay for itself in just 2 years since we usually pay $60-$90 for a live tree.

While I'll miss the smell, the tradition, the post-christmas kindling, the gathering of scraps from the lot to make wreaths out of, and the smell of the chopped up trunk burning in the chiminea I wont miss the cost, the needles, the danger to the animals drinking the tree water, the fire hazard, the depressing shape it takes on after just two weeks inside, or having to cut it up into kindling.

Sadly, and I hope I'm wrong, I doubt Coits will sell Christmas trees next year either. Once a company stops doing something it rarely starts up again. And like my family, I'd bet this year alot of people finally got an artificial tree and wont be shopping for a life one next year.