Fuji TV
Christmas Tree Shortage (2021)
”25 years now, and this is the worst season.”

Pix 11
Holiday decorations and vendors transform NYC street corners early in (2020)
”George Smith with NYC Tree Shop says neighbors may see fewer places to purchase items on the sidewalk.”

Pix 11
NYC Christmas tree vendors already busy (2019)
”There’s less time between Thanksgiving and Christmas and some vendors are dealing with a tree shortage.”

Pix 11
Tree shortage driving prices up this year (2018)
”Because we have the frost in Nova Scotia, and we have snow and bad weather in Quebec, and in North Carolina we don’t have the Fraser market like we once had, because when the prices went low they didn’t grow as many trees.”

WNEP 16
Christmas tree prices go up (2018)
”Bottom line is people are going to be paying more for Christmas trees. Yeah, I say it’s going to go up 18, 20percent,” Smith said.

Pix 11
Nationwide Christmas tree shortage drives up prices (2017)
George Smith, who manages the shop, explained the glut of trees is the result of the deep recession a decade ago when farmers were forced to reduce plantings, creating the shortage now. It takes about 10 years for the trees to grow.

Pix 11
Is it too early to buy a Christmas tree? Some say it's never too early (2016)
"If you buy one now, you get to enjoy it for weeks before Christmas," George Smith, Christmas tree seller, told PIX11. "The key is just to keep watering it," Smith said. The Smith family has been selling Christmas trees and ornaments on this block of Second Avenue between 19th and 20th streets for 10 years now. 

The New York Times
Christmas Trees Too Expensive? Call 311 (2009)
According to an official announcement in the City Record, Mr. Smith bid $9,472 in rent the first year, $9,942 the second, $10,412 the third and $10,892 the fourth. That is a third more than what the previous vendor paid, making the rent at the stand the city’s seventh highest, records show. 

Los Angeles Times
Fir Crazy: Selling Christmas trees is a 24-hour job in New York (2010)
"It's like putting a plastic turkey on the table for Thanksgiving!" George Smith barked at a woman who walked past his Brooklyn stand and said she preferred plastic to pine. Like all 24-hour sellers, Smith insists he offers something special: a money-back guarantee that his trees won't die before Christmas.

Adam McCauley
Hidden Malcontents: New York's Christmas Tree Industry (2011)
“This is a hard business,” said George Smith, who started selling Christmas trees in Queens at age 10 to make enough money to replace his stolen bike, “We work 10-, 12-, 14- even 15-hour days.”