For Tree Merchants, Christmas Means War of the Pines

In the Christmas tree wars, the fir is beginning to fly.

Refrigerated trucks loaded with trees rumble into the Miller and Sons Christmas tree lot at Balboa Boulevard and Parthenia Street in Northridge. A huge banner proclaiming their trees are “34 days fresher” hangs over a noisy trailer that is command central for the Miller family operation. This self-described “McDonald’s of the Christmas tree business,” with 51 locations statewide, is facing its biggest weekend of the year, and President Will Miller, 25, looks harried.

“This is a very risky business. You have 18 days to sell $10 million worth of goods that are no good after Christmas,” he said. “It’s almost like taking the biggest exam of your life.”

The frenzy surrounding Miller and others at San Fernando Valley tree lots epitomizes what’s going on around the country. In an increasingly competitive industry, the scramble is on to build--and market--the better Christmas tree.

Michigan Touts Shape

Miller says his trees are fresher. Elsewhere, growers and sellers are taking different tacks. In Michigan, for instance, tree farmers boast about the superior shape of their trees, while Mr. Christmas of Los Angeles brags that it was the first firm to market an artificial tree that has a real wooden trunk.

Competition in the Christmas tree business has gotten fierce for several reasons. A few years ago, agricultural advisers were promoting Christmas trees as a good, dependable cash crop. As a result, plantings increased to the point that there is a surplus of live trees, said Barry Brand, executive secretary of the Michigan Christmas Tree Assn., whose trees are sent to 36 states, including California.

Brand said 42 million trees may be harvested this year, but only 34 million sold--at prices ranging from $3 to $5.25 a foot. Because of this year’s drought, which the National Christmas Tree Assn. estimates killed 60% of the seedlings, the oversupply may be eased by 1995, when this year’s seedlings would have matured.

But for now, the pressure is on growers to produce as shapely, fluffy a tree as possible. Where a Christmas tree was once a humble item bedecked with a few lights and tinsel and was regarded as a kind of backwater part of the toy industry, today just any old tree won’t do.

Duplicating marketing techniques used for Florida oranges and Napa Valley wines, the Michigan Christmas Tree Assn. began a “Snowfresh” program last year to promote the quality of its trees. Inspectors visit well-tended tree plantations, where 90% of the Christmas trees are grown, and bestow the “Snowfresh” label only on those trees that meet rigid specifications. The taper of the tree must have just the right pyramidal look, and there must not be any significant gaps in the foliage.

“They can put the tag on the trees and hopefully the grower can get $1 or $2 more,” Brand said. “This is the Cadillac of trees.”

In the search for an edge, Will Miller has chosen to promote freshness. He claims his trees can reach customers within 20 hours of being cut in Oregon. Teams of drivers steer their refrigerated trucks through the night to reach their destinations.

Proof that freshness matters to buyers, Miller said, is the fact that his business has become the nation’s largest private retail franchise devoted exclusively to Christmas trees. He expects to sell 200,000 trees this season. Miller has about a dozen lots in the Valley and 28 in the Los Angeles metropolitan area.

Miller accuses some competitors of cutting trees in October and flocking them to cover up their age, a charge one grower bridles at. “It’s just hype, pure hype,” said Ann Kirk Davis, marketing coordinator for The Kirk Co. of Tacoma, Wash., which ships 1.5 million trees a year.

The earliest anyone cuts trees these days, she said, is Nov. 1. She said those trees are shipped to Hawaii, where a Northwest-grown tree stands in front of City Hall in Honolulu.

While most trees on Christmas tree lots in the Valley reportedly come from Oregon and Washington, California has an industry of its own in white fir and silver tip trees. Last year, farm sales were $27.2 million.

Of the 100 million or so households in the nation, about a third display a real tree, either selected from a lot such as Miller’s or personally cut from one of the 5,000 so-called “choose-and-cut” plantations. Another third choose an artificial tree, while a third do something else.

Artificial Trees

By taking advantage of the housekeeper’s dislike for needles on the carpet and the fear of fire associated with natural trees, artificial-tree makers have steadily increased their share of the industry since the ‘60s. In 1986, according to a Pennsylvania State University study, artificial trees accounted for 47% of the market.

“You can’t let that go unopposed,” said Don Becker, a spokesman for the National Christmas Tree Assn.

As in any stiff competition, there is antagonism on both sides. Artificial-tree makers frequently stress the fire issue. For their part, tree growers refuse to use the term “artificial,” damning their competitors’ products as “ plastic trees.”

Within the artificial-tree industry, the search for the perfect Christmas tree is just as energetic as among growers.

The unconvincing, stiff-needled replicas of the early days have been replaced by bushy-looking trees that manufacturers insist are convincingly realistic, lacking only the aroma of pine.

“We were the first ones on the market a year ago with a real wood trunk” on an artificial tree, said Pat Martin, a sales representative for Mr. Christmas in Los Angeles.

In this increasingly sophisticated industry, a customer can choose among ranks of quality, from the discount store special to boutique classy.

The American Tree Co., in Pittsburgh, Pa., the nation’s largest manufacturer, makes 90 different trees in 17 styles. “We make all kinds of trees, from $10 to $1,000,” said Bruce Robinson, executive vice president.

“Our Christmas trees are of the gourmet level,” said Cheryl Fox, publicity director of Bullock’s in Los Angeles, which sells artificial trees from $179 to $400. They have wood trunks, metal-hinged limbs and are fire retardant.