Christmas Tree Shops

Hit or miss with lots of cool junk that falls apart before you leave. You think I’m kidding? I bought a set of four «Cooks Collection Magnetic Bag Clips» for $ 1.00. They would have been perfect for keeping on my fridge and using them to close frozen veggie bags. It wasn’t until I got home and went to take them off of the card that I saw three of them had missing magnets (fell out in the store? In China?) and the one with a magnet was broken.
They have some good deals on food products, and some not good at all. For example, they carry a wide range of Bob’s Red Mills flours. Totally unexpected! But some are a dollar less than Amazon/​Hannaford et al while others are a dollar plus more.
There are lots of cute novelty items that I wanted to buy that I picked up but put back because I knew better. I mean, I don’t need retro Maine Vacationland paper napkins. I snickered at the small faux old-​fashioned milk bottles for décor at $ 3.50ish each bottle. You can buy a bottle of Smiling Hill Farms milk with a cute bottle, milk included for around the same price.
Anyway, some deals here but beware the junque.

I avoid Christmas Tree Shop because whenever I come here I am tempted to buy things I don’t necessary need (or even really want), because of the amazing deals and totally random, eclectic plethora of things they sell. Here’s just a sampling of where my hard-​earned dollah, dollah bills have gone to:
— Chimes
— Patio furniture (4 chairs, one table, and an umbrella)
— A covered swing
— Multiple gnomes for the garden
— Overly spicy bloody mary mix
— Stuffed dolphins
— Salt water taffy
— An enormous coffee mug with squid tentacles on it
— Mason jars
— Antique-​looking glass milk bottles
— Weird snacks I’ve never heard of before
I haven’t yet purchased myself the fish pitcher that makes actual glugging sounds when it pours, so if someone wants to get that for me, that’d be great.
Also, I would have to say that USUALLY the employees are super nice. Offering coupons when someone doesn’t have one, double-​wrapping breakables (because they’re more concerned than you might be/​they see all over your face you are a little too rough with your belongings), going out of their way to help you with heavy/​difficult items, etc.
The only things that bum me about about Ye Olde CTS are:
1) The mind-​blowingly low prices in one breath, and the painfully high prices in another. Beautiful, durable chimes for $ 6 on one hand, eight-​inch tall light-​up letters individually sold at $ 25 a piece on the other hand. How does that even make sense?
2) The Mardens-​esque way in which they move/don’t move, order/don’t order, know/don’t know (what kind of) merchandise (they have). So, there are these branch lights I’m quite taken with. I went to buy some — and for the first time ever they were out. So, I ask the Customer Service desk if they’ll get more. «No.» Seems kind of weird since they have for YEARS carried them. So I ask if I can special order a dozen from another store. They say yes. I ask — multiple times if I can get them in just brown. They say yes. They tell me there’s no way of knowing when they’ll show up, though. Hunh? In this day and age, how do you not know when something you ordered is going to show up? Nearly A MONTH goes by before I hear from them — the branch lights have finally arrived. I rush over to pick them up… they are in assorted colors (brown, gold, white, and silver). So much for just the brown ones, eh?
Sign up for their emails… they have CRAZY discounts during the holiday seasons.
(When you can buy me that glugging fish pitcher in either blue or green. Kthx.)

This place sells no Christmas ornaments. Why the heck do they call themselves a Christmas shop? It’s like a big lots.

This is such a fun place to shop. You never know what you will find. It is great for browsing and finding unique gifts. The prices are always just right. The service is friendly, but a bit lacking when picking up big items, make sure you can carry it and have your reciept.

I absolutely have to stop here before every big vacation or weekend trip. They have aisles of travel-​sized gear available, from pain relievers to first aid kits to makeup removing wipes. They also have clear plastic bottles you can use to put your own shampoo/​conditioner in to bring as carry-​on.
I usually leave here with something extra that wasn’t on my list — nail polish, a puzzle, a cat bed, holiday decorations, frames, wrapping paper. it’s such a knick-​knacky store, but I love it!

Lighthouses
ships
and
Xmas
Christmas trees shops are pretty cool places to find all kinds of strange and odd things at really good prices. Lots of them are scattered around New England and the very first one opened on Cape Cod back in the 50’s.
The one on the Cape was the only Christmas Tree Shop until 1981 when someone got the idea that some other stores might be a good idea. Now there are over 70 stores in 21 states. They look pretty much the same but with regional variations on the same theme.
The one in Scarborough looks about the same as all the others on the inside with a huge variety of all kinds of stuff, most of it at bargain prices. Definitely a seasonal theme going on, when we were there in August it was all ready packed with tons of Halloween weirdness.
But it is the outside of the Scarborough store that really is special. A cute little lighthouse model in front of a huge mural of the famous Portland Head Lighthouse with some lovely old ships going by. Pretty stunning and amazing.
Most Christmas Tree Shops are similar, lots of cool stuff at great prices. But the beautiful mural in front of this store makes it very special.

I love Christmas Tree Shops. We were in the area and were looking for different varieties of kcups. Kcups that we can’t get back where we live. They have a great variety of coffee kcups and teas as well! Love this place! Friendly service. Will definitely return when in the area.

I love this Christmas Tree Shop! They have fantastic items! I got some great lobster items for my camper! Some lobster plates that show you the proper way to crack lobsters. Some bibs, crackers, some butter holders and tons of other great items.
My guests love them and they were so inexpensive. Christmas tree shop is such a great store for so unique items. I can’t wait to go back to see what they have for Halloween. This store is huge and it has a huge food and toiletry aisle!

Oh how I wish we had this store in CA!
They have everything that you could possibly dream of at incredibly low prices. If I lived here I would be in this store every week picking things up! It’s full of home décor goodies, gifts, snacks and outdoor gear.
If only shipping to CA weren’t so expensive!