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Sidney Boolootian moved his Christmas tree lot to Clovis after 35 years in Southeast Fresno. Photos by David Castellon

published on November 20, 2019 - 11:33 AM
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After 41 years of selling Christmas trees, Sidney Boolootian figured it might be time to retire after being told in August 2017 that the southeast Fresno corner he had sold trees on for almost 34 years had been sold.

At the time, he was told he would have to move by the coming November, just before the Christmas season, something the Fresno native couldn’t do that quickly, as it would take a lot more time to lease and set up a new tree lot, and his trees from Pacific Northwest tree farms already were ordered.

Fortunately, the closing for the land purchase took longer than anticipated, and the incoming owner of the half-acre parcel at Willow Avenue and Kings Canyon Road — who are planning to build a 7-Eleven convenience store on the site — wasn’t adverse to Sid’s Christmas Trees continuing to operate on the property not only that Christmas season but also in the 2018 season.

“Last year was my last year there because that property was sold,” Boolootian said. “I planned on retiring because after being there so many years, I had thought it was a done deal.”

But that didn’t happen. In fact, in recent months he has been working to convert another vacant lot at the southwest corner of Villa and Herndon avenues in Clovis into the new Sid’s Christmas Trees lot.

Boolootian said once he was informed in December 2018 that he wouldn’t be able to use his old lot this season, as initial work to level the land had begun — he decided to put off retirement and try to find a site for a new lot.

The former Sid’s Christmas Trees location in Southeast Fresno is making way for a 7-11.

 

He tried to find a lot on Kings Canyon, but he couldn’t find one that would suit his needs and allow him a long-term lease, “Because next time I move. I’m done.”

Then in February, he came across the new site —across the street from the Clovis Cemetery — for which he signed a five-year lease, figuring that by the end of it he might be ready to retire. It wasn’t exactly move-in ready, as the bare lot was overgrown with waste-high weeds that Boolootian had removed, doing some of the work himself.

After that, he fenced off the lot, had light poles erected in it, erected a wood-framed structure that will be the tree-flocking area and had the Christmas-themed cashier booth hauled there.

He still has some work ahead of him before opening the lot for the season, but the big question Boolootian now faces is whether his customers from the Fresno site will make the 12-mile trip to Clovis to buy his Christmas trees.

He said he’s not worried about his commercial customers — medical offices, law firms and other businesses with representatives who rarely, if ever, stepped on his lot, instead ordering their trees from the sizes, varieties and prices listed in the mailer he sends out every year. In fact, Boolootian said he headed up north in September to personally select those trees before his suppliers chop them down and deliver them in the coming weeks.

But before the move, about 85 percent of his on-site business was repeat customers.

More than likely, some will not make the longer trip to Sid’s Christmas Trees’ new lot, but Boolootian said, “I believe a lot of them will, because my quality is the best you can find in Fresno, and that’s the truth.”

A big part of the reason is that he has been in the business so long that his two suppliers allow him to go to their farms ahead of the season and personally pick the trees he wants, marking each with a colored ribbon well before they’re cut.

In addition, Boolootian noted that his new location is off an active, “hard” corner — with traffic lights — surrounded by more affluent neighborhoods than his old location, so residents in the area may have easier times affording trees at his lot.

Still, the Clovis lot had been a been a Christmas tree lot for a few years, and the operator sold it to an employee who, from what Boolootian heard, “took a beating” and lasted just one season, leaving the lot unused last Christmas.

He’s optimistic he has the experience and customer base to avoid such a situation.

On top of everything else, his new lot has space for cars to park, which he didn’t have at the Fresno site, Boolootian noted.

“I had no parking to speak of, but they came,” despite having to park on the street or across the street at one of the nearby shopping centers, he said.

“This is going to be a learning experience. I want to see what [customers] I get from the old location.”

“I wasn’t so excited at first, but I’m warming up to it,” said Boolootian, who plans to give himself a slight edge by opening his new lot Nov. 20, a couple of days ahead of his usual opening on the Friday before Thanksgiving to get a little more exposure from people driving by before tree sales begin in earnest.


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