Celebrating half a century of Christmas trees with large stock, amid ‘excellent’ growing conditions

A local retailer is feeling jolly, selling out of almost half its stock already just as the business celebrates 50 years of selling Christmas trees to the community.

Grobe’s Nursery and Garden Centre has been operating in Breslau for 62 years. The owner, Perry Grobe, has been working in the building since he was just a kid. He said the appearance and supply of the trees is better than last year.

“The tree growers we deal with are all very upbeat about how the growing conditions were this year and most of the folks that grow nursery stock too, which we also provide, will say the same, they had excellent condition for the growth of plants this year,” said Grobe.

Plenty of sun and rain in June helped with tree growth, as well as hard frosts that hit before harvest.

“The most popular variety because of its longevity in the house is Fraser Fir, and based on our numbers now we should have enough to get us through this weekend but normally they’re gone before the end of the first week of December.”

Grobe said this weekend will likely be the busiest for them, through to next week. He added that his father, Peter, is still working for people to say hi to.

“We’ve had so many regulars that we served over the last 50 years, it’s really an enjoyable Christmas for all of the people out here, seeing what we call old friends,” added Grobe.

With the federal Holiday Tax Break coming up on Dec. 14, Grobe mentioned that people are already asking about the discount as it is set to apply to “Christmas and similar decorative trees.”

Grobe is telling people that stock will be limited by the time that tax break kicks in and people shouldn’t wait, as they tend to sell out most of their Christmas trees by that date.

“Folks that are holding off, waiting for that, they may not have near the selection of trees that they think they get the longer they put that off.”

As a fundraiser for KidsAbility, the nursery and garden centre offers people a chance to pick a tree and have it stored until the date they want it. Grobe said they have hundreds of customers that do it and help to sell Christmas trees fast.