Christmas Tree Shops

As a card-​carrying male, complete with a pair of you-​know-​whats, this is not a great place to visit. This is definitely a chick place. A combination between a dollar store, a craft shop, and a place where women go to buy cheap plastic gifts.
Are there some deals to be had here? Yes. Do you NEED 99% of the stuff that they sell? No. Do you want the stuff they sell? Maybe some of it.
I could go in, walk the store in 5 minutes, and be out with my purchase. When your wife makes you walk the store for an hour while she shops the makeup and knick-​knacks, it’s miserable.
But honestly, there are worse stores for a man to be stuck in (Claire’s, Bath and Body Works).

I start out with the disclaimer that I grew up going to the original Christmas Tree Shop (s) (it was three little buildings connected together) in Yarmouth Port, MA, close to my grandparents’ and parents’ houses. It was run by a couple named Chuck and Doreen, and it had a very eclectic collage of you-​never-​quite-​knew-​what, obviously around a Christmas theme in the I-didn’t-know-I-wanted-that candle-​and-​decoration vein. it attracted a lot of the little old church ladies like my Grandma and for a while became a bit chic in a completely non-​ironic way for my Mom’s generation as well. My experience of going in there was a combination of interested fascination in maybe finding some little wooden stocking stuffer toy and fear that I would touch and break something (for I was forever being warned of such consequences) and piss off Santa Claus, here in what was obviously if not his actual house, one of his favored stopping places.
So fast forward four decades, and Christmas Tree expanded a bit, got bought out by some über-​chain, and became what it is today, which is sort of a holiday-​themed cross between a dollar store, Ocean State Job Lot, and the kind of nightmare of a store that might appear in a Tim Burton film. It’s a dumping ground for every extruded plastic project exported from China with a holiday theme you could imagine, plus a sort of year-​round pile of Marshall’s-level randomized general department store stuff.
Basically what’s wrong with Christmas is exemplified perfectly in this store. This location, on the two occasions when necessity of taking a visitor here required it, filled me with both the general dislike of the joint and a specific dislike of this location, where the front checkout line reminds me like nothing so much as a pre-​bankruptcy K-​Mart and the customer service reminds me of the DMV. Throw in a mall location that doesn’t even really open onto the mall (the windows are covered, so you can’t even see in the store from the mall) it really completes the feeling of holiday despair.
You may ask why I’m still at two stars, but this is another case in point about my rating system: I reserve that one star for true catastrophes, and as much as I really detest Christmas Tree Shops and this one in particular, I can see where it has its appeal and that they are still sort of unique in their awfulness, which counts for something. So, despoiler of the memories of my Youth — oh, did I mention whatever chain owns the place now CLOSED the original shoppes in Yarmouth Port about five years ago, because it was no longer the kind of massive money making chain store they wanted to front their brand? — you still get two stars from me. You’re welcome.

I’m not really sure why this store makes me happy, but it does. It is the greatest place to find ridiculous decorations and tacky lawn ornaments. The prices on the kitchenware stuff are not as good as they use to be, but I still find some pretty decent stuff for about the same price as TJ Maxx or Marshalls.
My siblings and I have a stupid tradition of buying each other «whimsicle fuckery» (see
) for birthdays. For $ 25 this past August I was able to buy my sister a Michael Jackson shirt, a giant dinosaur coloring book with crappy crayons, sequin covered rip-​off uggs, and an M&M dispenser with Obi Wan Kenobi and a battery operated fan. She got me a «coconut» monkey that looks like it is «pleasuring itself» and some creepy tree carving faces. And for my sister-in-law’s bridal shower I got her 4 «beautiful» place mats that have a bird’s eye photograph of a slice of pizza, a soda, chocolate covered pretzels, and paper/​plastic eating implements. She was speechless :-D (I gave her a real gift too)
If you are looking for travel size products you can probably find the product here… but not at any great savings compared to the drug store (but they have a better selection here).
And sometimes they send coupons for 20% off in the mail, which is AAAAAAAWWWWWWSOME.

I never set my expectations high here, so I’m never disappointed. Actually, there are very specific items I look for here because I do get great deals on them — things like Christmas cards, candles, holiday and general home decorations, etc. Once in a while I’ll find another unexpected bargain somewhere in the store.
One thing I did notice is that their prices for a lot of housewares and health and beauty aid items are no longer competitive. I recall I used to be able to get good deals on things like shampoo or dental products. When I was here the other day, I found the prices had risen to the point where everything was more expensive than at most grocery stores (and certainly places like Target). Maybe it’s because this is the best and maybe only place to get these sort of items at Colonie Center so they feel comfortable raising their prices? Who knows; I certainly don’t know. I’ll just continue to buy what I consider good deals here, and other items elsewhere.
The store, while sometimes busy and chaotic right before a holiday, is generally clean and well-​organized. The rest rooms are well-​maintained. There’s usually enough registers open so that you don’t have a long wait.

This store has nothing to do with Christmas. It’s basically a department store that has reasonable prices on everyday items. I came here with a friend the cinnamon smell is annoying however; I held my breath and found some really cool stuff. If your in the area check it out theres something for everyone. I would have given it 5 stars if it was a bit more organized, it’s such a massive store and the isles can be a bit confusing.

I’ve never been a fan of the Christmas Tree Shops store, so it leads me to give these stores to a lower star rating. Their floors may be clean, and their employees are knowledgable, but the amount of products they carry, just isn’t enough, and the fact they can’t specifically request a particular product (like Barnes and noble and other-​similarly inspired places can) really ticks me off a zillion.

I like Christmas Tree. not for normal shopping but for the randomness. If you like grab bags then this is the place. Why grab bags? Because you never know whats going to be in there. Its all not too expensive but at the same time you may find something you like and never see it again. So there is that. But over all i like going here because you never know what they got till you get there.

Sorry Christmas Tree, I am knocking off a star for you. As Lai-​Yee explained below, what has happened with this new bath/​cosmetic section? Seriously, what is up with this? It’s just like all the regular stuff you’d find at CVS, Walmart or Target and at the same boring old retail prices. I come to Christmas Tree is to find good deals on random stuff, not buy stuff that I could get at the same price at CVS, Walmart or Target. I wish you’d get rid of this section, Christmas Tree, and fill the space with more good deals. Still love you for your kitchen stuff, wrapping paper, gift bags and cards, though.

My sister-​in-​law has converted me. My husband is glad there’s not one around where we live. Just getting Christmas gift bags for $ 1 a bag made it worth it, given how expensive they are elsewhere. I can imagine I’d be tempted by lots of other stuff when the Christmas season is over and that’s pared back.

We went to the Christmas Tree Shop yesterday and had a great experience. We went in to just browse around and found two (yea two) employees that went way out of their way to help us find what we were looking for. One of them actually went as far as going out to a delivery truck that was parked outside to find us something! In an age where customer service seems to be getting worse and worse this was a breath of fresh air! Kudos CTS!

I had to give them five stars since I gave Big Lots four! I found it to be a slightly bigger and better Big Lots. If you like kitchen stuff like we do, this place is heaven. We found a pair of spring cake pans for $ 7. Price Chopper had one pan for $ 12. They also have a bunch of candy you have never heard of including coconut flavored hard candy. Yum! However, like Big Lots, don’t go there expecting to find something in particular. It’s just a lot of closeout from other shops. Also, if you lack in the self control department, don’t go here or you’ll end up with tons of crap.