Commercial Christmas Trees

Your Shopping Guide to Commercial Christmas Trees

It’s hard enough deciding on a Christmas tree that everyone in your family will enjoy—for business owners, property managers, and office managers who need to decorate retail and office spaces for Christmas, there’s a much bigger puzzle to solve. Commercial Christmas trees, also called Christmas tower trees, are seen by thousands, even tens of thousands, of people in the course of the Christmas season, so they need to be impactful. That calls for planning.

For instance, do you need one tree or several? If you’re a retailer with multiple departments in your establishment, you may want to give each department its own sense of place with individual trees, perhaps even decorated in themes that relate to their locations. Or you may prefer to have a single, significant tree near your entrance and other types of smaller, regular style, non-tower trees throughout your establishment. The same goes for offices. A single, stunning lobby tree can stand on its own, or be the first delightful step on a pathway featuring a variety of smaller trees in your various departments.

The great news is that there are tons of options available for making exactly the statement you want to make with your Christmas business décor. Just give us a call at Christmas Designers and we’ll be happy to discuss your space and make some commercial Christmas tree and other commercial décor suggestions.

One of the first decisions a lot of people face is whether to go with a real tree or an artificial tree. In business settings, we recommend using only artificial trees (and not just because those are the kind we sell). Here are just a few reasons:

The logistics of sourcing, obtaining and setting up real trees is a big hassle in a business environment. One very basic concern is that someone has to spend time putting on the lights. Unless we’ve missed something in the industry, no farms are growing pre-lit trees just yet.
Once real trees are set up, they require watering to keep them from drying out and becoming a fire hazard. And then there are all those pine needles. Your cleaning crew and grounds crew are going to LOVE those vacuum-defying little things.
They’re one-and-done. You can only use a real tree once, so the whole job of finding a tree has to happen all over again, next year.

With proper care and storage, a high-quality, artificial commercial Christmas tree will last many years. This is especially true of the internal frame, tower trees. And if you’re concerned about their effect on the environment, don’t be. According to one study, if you use an artificial tree for at least 4 years, your carbon footprint will be smaller than if you purchased a real tree every year. And as for the concerns some have about the environmental effects of artificial tree disposal, the same study found that both real and artificial trees, no matter how they were disposed of, accounted for less than 0.1% of the average person’s annual carbon footprint.

So, what should you look for in your trees? Here are some things to keep in mind:

Quality: If the price is too good to be true, it probably is. Every industry has people in it for whom quality-control isn’t a top priority. When it comes to real trees, God doesn’t make junk. But in the world of artificial trees, there are some all-too-human people who do. If your artificial tree looks like it’s been through a hurricane after one season, you’ve defeated both the economic and environmental purposes involved in buying it.

Fast, simple assembly: Whether your tree is 9 feet or 90, make sure it doesn’t have a complex assembly system.

Accessible, pre-lit branches: As we mentioned in the above comments on real trees, having to put time into lighting a commercial Christmas tree is not a good use of someone’s working hours. Make sure your tree has pre-lit branches on which the light strings can be easily changed over the years, should any burnout.

Frame strength: This is another must-have, no matter what size your tree is—a sturdy, stable frame that will give you years of use and peace of mind that your tree will always stand firm.

Standard hardware: If you come across a tree that has been designed to use a lot of proprietaries or specialty hardware, just keep on walking by. Special hardware can be very difficult to replace. Get a tree that uses nuts, bolts, and screws that you can replace at any hardware store, and that doesn’t require anything more than the standard tools in your toolkit.

All of the above becomes even more important if you’re going for that “Rockefeller Center” look and investing in a commercial tower tree. Let’s take another look at those shopping-list features:

Quality: An exceptionally-tall artificial tree is a serious investment; if feeling ripped off by an over-priced, the low-quality smaller tree feels bad, that’s nothing compared to getting only one or two seasons out of a poor-quality, tower-style commercial Christmas tree. Ask questions about the materials and construction methods used in making your tree, and don’t be afraid to take your time making a decision while you do some research.

Fast, simple assembly: Insist on an easy-to-follow assembly procedure that makes building the frame, connecting the electricity, and attaching the branches a safe and intuitive process. Obviously, assembling a 50-foot-high tree will never be as “fast” as setting your home tree in its base, but there’s no reason why it should be a monumental, daunting task.

Accessible, pre-lit branches: If you have the wherewithal and patience to hand-string the lights on a large, commercial Christmas tree, we salute you! But when you come to us, you’re going to get high-quality lights, pre-strung onto high-quality branches. And they’ll be on there in such a way that you can easily change out a string should one go bad.

Frame strength: Any outdoor tree needs to stand up to the elements—literally. Make sure the frame of your tree is formed out of strong, easily stacked, and firmly secured conical steel sections.

Standard hardware: We can’t stress this strongly enough when it comes to tower trees and the many hardware pieces used to secure them. From the smallest screw to the large stakes used to stabilize the frame, you shouldn’t have to go farther than a local hardware store for a replacement.

And here’s one more thing to consider before you fall in love with a particular tree design: How easy is it to store? Instead of telling you what to look for, this time, we’ll simply tell you what we offer with our Majestic Mountain Pine—designed specifically for the unique needs of businesses in need of a large, beautiful, statement-making outdoor Christmas tree.

In addition to providing all the quality features we’ve already mentioned, the various components of the Majestic Mountain Pine are designed to nest tightly, making the most of your available storage space.

All that said, we hope you’ll come to Christmas Designers for your commercial Christmas tree needs. But if you go elsewhere, please keep all of the above considerations in mind.