Eames Christmas trees a family tradition for many in Albany

ALBANY — Drawing toward the close of its sixth decade, the Eames family may have the longest tenure in Albany for a Christmas tree lot.

Located at its customary spot on Old Dawson Road just west of Slappey Boulevard, the holiday forest with its plain wooden shack are back with second-generation tree seller Glenn Eames.

“Best I can count, about 57 years ago,” Eames responded last week when asked when his parents, Paul and Dot Eames, started selling Christmas trees in Albany. He’s seen youngsters who came to the lot with their parents and grandparents return now as parents and grandparents themselves.

“We’ve been fortunate,” he said. “Of course, dad (who passed away in 2011) had such a big personality people came in as much for the experience of getting to banter with him as anything. He built up a good business and it’s become a tradition.”

Eames shuts down his Smoke & Fire food truck during tree sales season, when he spends most of his day — and evening — at the tree lot, which is open 9 a.m.-9 p.m. daily.

No part of the trees, which are shipped in from North Carolina, go unused. Eames was working in a tent, putting together garland created from trimmings from the dozens of Frazier furs that populate the lot. Wreaths of various sizes, which he purchases, also hang on display in the tent.

The Eames lot migrated to its present location from South Slappey Boulevard.

“The first couple of years, the lot was down on South Slappey, right across the street from Gibson’s,” Eames said. Located at Slappey and Gordon Avenue, Gibson’s was one of the first discount stores in Albany, since replaced by a strip shopping center. “Then it was on the same side as Gibson’s in a vacant lot where Burger King is now.”

The lot moved a few times over the years, settling on Pine Avenue where Warehouse Liquor Store is now located when Paul and Dot Eames their Hit and Run restaurant at the site of the current Hot Dog King.

“We were there five or six years,” Eames said. His father “started this one as a second lot, then we lost that one. They didn’t want to lease it for whatever reason, so we moved the whole operation here. We’ve been here full-time probably 45-47 years now.”

Eames and his crew were working on a stand for the delivery of a big tree to an Albany business around lunchtime on this bright and warm early December day when a familiar car pulled in. The occupants began looking through the forest, and Eames walked over to help. There was some good-natured ribbing, and then some coaxing to get Mary Harris to pose for a photo.

Harris, who has worked for Eames’ mom on Saturdays for years, said she was there to pick out her tree, just as she has for years.

“I come every year,” she said. “Ever since they had a Christmas tree lot.”

One place Eames doesn’t want to be on Christmas Eve is his tree lot.

“Last year, we were shut down by the 15th (of December). A year or two before that, we sold out and we were out of here by the 16th or 17th,” he said. “That’s what you like to see. If you have to go until Christmas Eve, you’re not selling and you’re wondering how many you’re going to have to eat.”

But chances are that won’t be a problem. Eames has a lot of trees, but he also has a lot of loyal customers.

“A lot of people come up to me and say, ‘It wouldn’t be Christmas if we didn’t get our tree here. We wouldn’t go anywhere else.’ You like to hear that and know you’ve affected people’s lives in a good way,” Eames said.

While the Eames family has been a constant source of Christmas trees for Albany, the types of tree sold have changed over the decades. These days, Eames only sells Fraser firs. His supply comes from Bruner Sides Nursery near Sparta, N.C.

“When we started, the (most popular) tree back in the ’60s was probably the balsam,” he said. “It had a similar look to the Fraser fir, but not nearly as full. Some might have 6 or 7 inches between branches. Then we had the scotch pine. It looked like a pine, a short-needle pine, and it was full like this (Fraser). That was the most popular tree in the U.S. for a while.

“We’d sell about 3,000 trees a year, but that was back in the day when everybody had a live Christmas tree. If you had an artificial Christmas tree, people talked about you.”

Competition also impacts sales volume.

“It makes a difference when you have other lots,” said Eames, who also wholesales some of his trees to other lots. “Even if they just sell 400-500 trees, if you have three other lots that’s 1,500 trees and you just don’t have that much of a population to divvy it up on.”

Another market impact is supply. There have been reports of a shortage of Christmas trees this year, though Eames has a good, reliable supplier. He also has taken measures to avoid running out of supply too early, which is what happened to him last year.

“I’ve got a guy (Bruner Sides Nursery) we’ve been buying from for over 40 years and he’s got one of the biggest operations in North Carolina,” Eames said. “Last year, we got our first load in and called for a second load and they said, ‘We’re out of trees.’

“We were only able to get one load and I had customers come up here and say, ‘Glenn, what’s going on? You going out of business?’ And I said, no, I just can’t get any more. This year, I went ahead and locked in a second load.”

Another change Eames has seen in the market is how early people purchase their trees. While the market is tied in many ways to Thanksgiving, Eames said, many people and businesses want to have November events around the 20th and like to have their decorations up for those events.

“It’s getting earlier and earlier,” he said. “A lot of people like to start decorating the week before Thanksgiving. Plus, this year we had a late Thanksgiving.”

Special Photos: Jim Hendricks
Special Photo: Jim Hendricks