Ugh, we just sold our older one at garage sale a few weeks ago. And really if Walmart trees aren't cheap enough, garage sales would have been your best bet. You might also be able to find a good price on a used one at Salvation Army or Goodwill. 

Here in NJ we have a place called National Tree Company which is an outlet in Cranford, NJ that is open to the general public once a year for a few weeks before Christmas. The company is known for it's extremely high quality trees and decorations that are used across the nation in stores, malls, airports, hotels, and office lobbies where holiday displays are set up. They also make a lot of the better artificial trees that were sold under store brand names like Home Depot and Lowes but more recently True Value and ACE hardware stores.  They have a website, and oddly enough the trees that are shown on their site DO look exactly like what you can purchase. Worth taking a look at.

Whoa, say what? They open their showroom to the public once a year?

I went to their site and didn't find any info on this. I'd love it if I could visit that. Chip old me a while back that NTC is one of the remnants of Christmas City, one of the oldschool Christmas stores that used to spring up on Route 17. Christmas City was a huge holiday tradition in my family for many years and it was heartbreaking to see it shut down. If they do anything with their tree showroom now like they used to do there, it would be pure magic to see that again.

I don't see anything on their website about an open house event though.

Winter_Warlock ,

National Tree Company has been opening their Cranford warehouse the day after Thanksgiving for a while now. This year they'll be open to the public for an extended period compared to past years.  They aren't dressed up like the old Christmas City, Harrows, Treasure Island or Fortunoffs (unfortunately) as they simply display their merchandise in a more functional outlet/warehouse setting.  Their trees are still beautifully decorated and displayed as nice as anything I've seen in a long time. It's all really impressive stuff! 

I'm looking at their annual 2013 Annual Christmas Warehouse Sale flier and it says they'll be open each day from 11/29/13 to 12/20/13 from 9:00AM to 4:30 PM. I know a lot about the place since I grew up about three blocks away and my family still buy decorations there every year. It's worth the trip if you're looking for a good selection of quality artificial trees.

Hope that helps!

Chip,

Your recollections brought back some good old memories for me. The first part-time job I ever had (back in high school) was unloading trucks at Christmas City in Linden - right across from Wheeler Park on Rt 1 in Linden a few blocks from Wood Ave. I might remember there also being one in Springfield (I think)....Was it on Rt. 22 or am I confusing it with some other Christmas  place besides Harrows that used to be right behind Rickels on Rt 22 West?  

My father told me that the family who owned Christmas City supposedly leased a few cars from his dealerships back in the 1970s which is how he got me the job which provided some great holiday memories for me.

I figured most of the trees at NTC are built overseas today - if not all of them. I recall the Christmas City trees used to have MADE IN USA boldly stamped on the side of each box. These days the NTC trees still look to be nicely built and somewhat affordable, especially if you can take advantage of their annual "Christmas Warehouse Sale."

By any chance do you recall the "Mountain King" line of Christmas trees form the '70s? Their TV ad had a family decorating a tree on a mountain and it wasn't until the end the voice-over told you that the tree you just saw decorated was an artificial tree  (surrounded by real trees) made by Mountain King? I haven't done research on them but a few years ago someone at Holiday Tree & Trim (Bayonne) said they still make Mountain King trees here in the USA, though the lights are usually made in China.

It seemed like there were a couple of places around Union and Springfield that my parents used to take us to for Christmas decorations which is why I asked about a Christmas City being on Rt 22 based on your mentioning it.  I haven't been in that part of Rt 22 in a long time and I'm not familiar with the Staples that's there now. Was the Springfield Christmas City closer to where Rickles was or further down towards where Channel Lumber was? 

Whenever we'd go to one of the places, I remember eating at either Gino's/Kentucky Fried Chicken (I loved Gino Giant burgers) or Pizza Town, both of which were located on the center island on Rt 22.

Do you remember back in the TV commercials for Prolong additive that was supposed to slow down the needles from falling by keeping real Christmas trees "fresher" longer? My mother still has a few bottles of that stuff from '74 in her basement.

Okay, now I remember exactly where the other Christmas City in Springfield was.  There's also a Sam Ash music store there now.

I don't know why, but somehow Chip having an artificial Christmas tree seems surprising!  I feel like I just found out there's no Santa Claus!

More or less. How can you be a dedicated Christmas fanatic and NOT have an artificial tree?

Granted, you can be a purist and criticize fake trees as an abomination. BUT, you can't have a live tree up for two months unless you want a zombie tree on Christmas morning.

Of course there's my solution. Artificial tree goes up mid-November. And then we also get a live one in December for a different room. :D

Well, Chip, I guess we have to forgive you then!

I had that problem last year.  I bought my first real Christmas Tree in over 40 years, and it was a Douglas Fir.  I had to wait until Black Friday because they don't start selling real trees until then, and they apparently didn't cut enough of the trunk off to get the sap flowing, and the tree didn't drink any water at all.  It was a beautiful tree, but I didn't know that once the branches settled that it would double in diameter, and I had to keep moving the tree further away from in front of my window, and the branches were touching the floor and I had to keep trimming them.  Buy Christmas Day, you could start seeing through the tree, but not too bad, and by New Years Day, it was much worse.  It was a good thing I put a sheet on the floor and spread it out because there was almost two pounds of needles on the sheet when I took the tree down.

I live in a small apartment with very little storage space so I had gotten rid of my artificial tree being it was a pre-lit and in three sections and they all wobbled.  It was also a pain trying to get it back in the box and then I had to shape the branches every year, and a few broke off from bending them too many times like a pipe cleaner.  I have another artificial tree this year but it won't be going up until after Thanksgiving just because I have to rearrange my small living room/dining room.