Internet Makes Christmas Tree Ordering Simple

CHICAGO (WBBM) -- If you're trying to figure out when you'll be able to get out to buy a fresh Christmas tree this year, a Chicago area-based company says you might want to think about ordering your tree from the Internet.

Dave Godsoe is president of The Christmas Tree Company based in north suburban Lake Bluff. The trees he sells are grown on his farm in Sparta, N.C., and they're made available through his own company as well as through The Home Depot and Costco.

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He says he sells thousands of fresh Christmas trees every year online. He believes a big reason for that is the exposure given to online sales from the major retailers.

Godsoe says people like the convenience of online ordering and home delivery. Sometimes, he says, it's a senior citizen who cannot get out to a tree farm or a lot where there are trees. Other times, he says, it's a single mom buying a Christmas tree online because she doesn't have a lot of time.

Godsoe says he sells thousands of Christmas trees each year, online, over the phone and at a lot he still owns on the east end of Toronto where he started selling Christmas trees as an 18-year old.

Rick Dungey, of The National Christmas Tree Association says it's impossible, right now, to say how many fresh trees are sold online only that it's probably much less than 3 percent of all trees sold each year.