Christmas Tree Shops - #24

This seemed appropriate for the day.

Christmas Tree Shops was founded in 1970 by Charles Bilezkian and his wife, Doreen, in the Cape Cod area of Massachusetts. 

Expanding to other northeastern states in the early 1990s, the chain was acquired by Bed Bath & Beyond in 2003. This allowed the chain to expand aggressively with a new brand added (Christmas Tree Shops andThat!) to avoid confusion in markets that were unfamiliar with the brand. By 2016, this new brand became simply "andThat!"

After a 17 year run under Bed Bath & Beyond, the chain was sold to Handil Holdings in 2020. After the collapse of Bed Bath & Beyond and its bankruptcy filing in May of 2023, Handil Holding filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection the following day with hopes to emerge in August of that year.

After defaulting on the restructuring loan and unable to find a buyer, Christmas Tree Shops closed all of its locations by August of 2023. There were a lot of shady practices and online impersonations during the liquidation (the chain had no online presence) and employee promises went unmet. Thus, the brand came to a tumultuous ending.