61 Workers Laid Off From Christmas Tree Shops In Brick

BRICK, NJ — The looming end of Christmas Tree Shops will cost 61 people their jobs at the Brick Township store.

In court filings earlier this month, Christmas Tree Shops said it would liquidate all stores. The home goods chain plans to close all of its remaining locations by the end of August.

Christmas Tree Shops still had 10 New Jersey stores at the time. But since then, the human cost has become clearer, with the chain filing notices announcing 531 layoffs from those stores.

Nine of the stores remained open as of Monday. In addition to the Brick store, at 479 Route 70 East, the stores in Cherry Hill, Deptford, Freehold, Mays Landing, Paramus, Rockaway, Springfield, and Woodland Park were still open. Christmas Tree Shops in Bridgewater has shuttered.

The precise timing for the remaining New Jersey stores' closures isn't clear. A post on the Brick Township store's Facebook page urged bargain hunters to check with the stores as they are being closed rapidly. The New England-headquartered company closed seven of its stores in Massachusetts and New Hampshire, CBS Boston reported Monday.

Christmas Tree Shops initially filed for bankruptcy in May following the collapse of its parent company, per Patch reporting.

In 1970, the first Christmas Tree Shops opened in Cape Cod, Massachusetts. New Jersey-based Bed Bath & Beyond acquired the chain in 2003 and opened stores in the Garden State three years later.
Bed Bath & Beyond, which declared bankruptcy in April, sold Christmas Tree Shops in November 2020 to Handil Holdings.