A GROWING BUSINESS

With the Thanksgiving holiday out of the way, local residents didn’t waste any time readying for Christmas. On Black Friday, almost as many shoppers found their way to local tree lots as retailer parking lots.

A number of local residents were seen shopping for Christmas Trees at Real Good Service (R.G.S.) Christmas Trees in Houma.

For the pat 40 years, R.G.S. has had an assortment of Christmas pines to choose from including Scotch Pines, Blue Spruces, Fraser Firs, Concolor Fir, Douglas Fir and Balsam Firs.

The chosen assortments are hand-picked by owner Robert Bowen, who inherited the business from his father-in-law, a native of Michigan. Bowen said he spends a week in Michigan tagging the trees that he wants shipped to Louisiana for the Tri-parish residents to enjoy.

This year, the Christmas tree business will be handling trees that are 5 to 20 feet tall. Bowen said residents can come shop for the trees during the weekdays from noon to 9 p.m. and on the weekends from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m.

The Christmas trees traditionally come green, but residents can get them flocked. Employee Chris Lovell said when you flock the Christmas pine with the white frost-like snow decor it lasts longer.

“A lot of people flock their Christmas trees so that can decorated them during Mardi Gras,” Bowen said.

Since the tree lot opened this Christmas season on Nov. 18, it has sold more than 1,000 trees. Two weeks before Christmas last year, the lot was forced to close because they ran out of trees.

“We will have 3,800 trees one the lot this year. I hope that we sell all of them just like we did last year,” Bowen said.

According to Bowen, there is not one particular tree that outsells the others. He said the trees are being bought at the same rate. Personally, Bowen would prefer the Fraser Fir because of its shape and smell.

“That’s how you can tell the trees apart, they all have different shapes, needle structures and smells. Most people still can’t tell the difference though,” he said.

However, Bowen said the Fraser Firs are not real easy to decorate because of the softer branches. He said if someone is looking to decorate their tree excessively then they should go but the Blue Spruce because it has strong branches.

Staff photo by Sophia Ruffin/ Chris Lovell, an employee of R.G.S. Christmas Trees, helps to bring Christmas spirit to the tri-parish area as he flocks a Christmas tree with a white frost-like snow decor.