‘Tis the 39th Season for Selling Christmas Trees

While some high profile retail spaces in town (like 59 Washington Street) struggle to find permanent tenants, this is the time of year when the Church of the Holy Innocents on Willow Street turns them over like hotcakes. Shortly after the Russo Civic Organization's wrapped up and moved out, the moved in. It opened on Thanksgiving Day to begin its 39^th year selling Christmas Trees in Hoboken.

On a raw, rainy day first of December Angelo Costa, 52, and Joe Taglieri, III, 25, sat behind a makeshift sales counter looking out over the inventory of holiday paraphernalia that festoons the interior of the nearly 140-year-old church. There's no heat in the otherwise vacant church and a slight chill has already set in. But the two Christmas tree retailers who operate the Hoboken Tree Barn know that the weather is only going to get colder this season and, as is the case every year, they and their staff are in it for the long haul. They'll be selling trees—for the most procrastinating among us—until 5 p.m. on Christmas Eve.

The Christmas tree-selling operation is an annual rite for Costa and the Taglieri family. Taglieri's father, Joseph Taglieri, Jr., first hawked Christmas trees to Hobokenites back in 1972. The junior Taglieri's father owned and operated the Adams Tavern, located on the corner of 6^th and Adams Streets. Next to the tavern was an empty lot. In December 1972, the junior Taglieri told his father he wanted to buy a bunch of trees and sell them from the lot.

Taglieri, Jr. purchased about 50 to 60 trees and sold out his entire inventory that year. Since then, the operation has grown substantially and moved around to several locations over the years. Seven years ago, the Hoboken Tree Barn landed in its current location. The following year, Costa, who had his own tree-selling operation that dates back to 1994, merged with the Taglieri's business.

The august church provides a fitting atmosphere for a business that peddles the most defining symbol of the season. The vaulted ceiling, stone walls and stained glass windows of the venue compliment the festive glitter of the merchandise, making for a veritable cathedral of Christmas, even if there's an ever-present chill in the place.

Costa and Taglieri, III are enthusiastic to talk about their seasonal work. For Costa, the month-long period between Thanksgiving and Christmas is one he starts planning during the summer heat of July.

"He has it down to a science," says Taglieri, praising Costa's flair for ordering the right number of trees each year. It's also a period for which Costa uses 20 vacation days; the rest of the year he works as a PATH conductor. Taglieri spends the rest of the year working for his father's construction company, J. Taglieri & Sons.

Costa orders trees from family-owned growers in Quebec and Nova Scotia, Canada and upstate Pennsylvania. The vast majority of the trees are Fraser Fir and Balsam Fir evergreens that range from one foot to twelve feet in height. Costa says the Fraser Firs are, by far, the most popular trees and, from a quality perspective, the best for use as a Christmas Tree. They expect to sell around 2,500 trees this season.

Last year, Hoboken Tree Barn introduced a new "Tree Express" service, which has returned this year. "We were really trying to branch out," says Taglieri, III. People who want to dispense with the hassle of hauling a tree from a lot back to their homes or apartments can simply call the Hoboken Tree Barn, supply one of the "Tree Musketeers" with their desired measurements and, for $40, Hoboken Tree Farm will take care of the rest, including setting up the tree in a stand. "We're willing to travel distances of up to a half-hour away in Hudson County and we will deliver to Manhattan," says Taglieri, III.

And for those who'd also like to dodge the clean-up after Christmas, Hoboken Tree Barn is offering a removal and cleanup service that's available through January 6, 2011.

"We offered the service last year but did not advertise it as much," says Taglieri, adding that the used trees will be taken to a recycling center and chopped into mulch. "Most of our deliveries are to families in multiple story walk-ups, and we thought if it's tough for two people to carry a packaged tree up, it has to be more difficult to remove."

Is it difficult to stick it out for the entire month? Costa says, after returning from the rain to wrap up a tree, that when the going gets really tough, they all stay focused on 5 p.m. Christmas Eve. That's when the Hoboken Tree Barn closes up shop and everyone goes to Costa's house for a traditional Italian feast of the seven fishes Christmas Eve dinner.