Christmas tree supplier to the stars forecasts best season ever
November 25, 2015 by admin
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Christmas tree sales are up, boosted by demand from Russians and corporate
clients buying pre-decorated trees
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7:04PM GMT 23 Nov 2015
Samuel Lyle sold his first Christmas tree when he was just 13 years old. His father, who owns a farm in Scotland, was clearing an area of woodland and, being December, the Norwegian spruces were in demand.
“My older brother got me to do the selling and it made great pocket money,” says Lyle, now 34.
The trees sold out and Lyle and his brother Josh, 36, expanded the business the following year, gradually planting more trees and investing the profits into renting nearby land.
Pines and Needles, their Christmas tree supply business, now sells 30,000 trees direct to customers and will wholesale a further 30,000 this year. It decorates and installs trees in some of the UK’s most famous venues, from Wembley Stadium to the Natural History Museum.
The company, which is based in London but couriers trees all over the UK, runs its own fleet of 30 vans, which allows it to offer a five-hour delivery slot in the capital. When selling a product as awkward and heavy as a Christmas tree, you need to offer top-notch customer service, Lyle says.
“We try to be the Rolls-Royce of Christmas trees. If people don’t like the tree, we take it back with no questions asked.”
Pines Needles aims to make its shopping experience a ‘great day out’ for the family
Pines and Needles runs its outdoor “showrooms” – Christmas tree lots – in parks around London.
“Our stores are in convenient places like Richmond Park, Battersea Park and Bushey Park,” says Lyle. “We try to make it a fun day out for the family.”
The company’s staff wear kilts, in a nod to Pines and Needles’ Scottish roots, visitors are offered mince pies and choirs are invited to sing carols on busy days of the season.
Christmas trees are the ultimate seasonal product and the business runs for about six months of the year, gearing up for a six-week sales blitz.
“It’s like planning a massive wedding,” Lyle says. “But growing the trees requires ongoing management to make sure that they’re the right shape.”
“Bud rubbing” – the practice of pruning stray shoots – is carried out in June, helping the trees to grow bushier and in proportion. “We try to reduce wastage, so we’ll be creative with pruning,” Lyle explains. “It means that instead of being ready in year one, we may have to wait two years for it to correct itself.”
The business goes from a skeleton staff of 10 up to 200 over winter.
“We’re lucky that some people come back year after year,” says Lyle, adding that the business has become a lifeline for out-of-work actors.
In Battersea Park and Richmond, Pines and Needles sells mostly trees that are 7 or 8ft tall – in Victoria Park they are usually smaller
Years ago, sales of Christmas trees would dry up after Christmas Eve, but an influx of Russians into London has extended the Christmas peak. This season, Christmas Day for the orthodox Russian church will land on January 7.
“Quite often our Russian customers will buy trees very late,” says Lyle. “So we’ll keep selling the trees for longer.”
A rise in demand for pre-decorated trees has also driven up sales – increasing 80pc last year.
Cash-rich, time-poor customers can choose from 66 different colour combinations on the Pines and Needles site, and offices make up 95pc of sales.
To make it even easier for corporate customers to bring some festive spirit to the workplace, Pines and Needles offers a collection and recycling service.
A team not only picks up the tree but vacuums the floor, wraps up the lights and removes the decorations. Around 20pc of online customers choose this option, but the number is growing year-on-year.
Samuel Lyle (left) and brother Josh run Pines and Needles
The Nordmann Fir is the UK’s favourite tree, Lyle says, because it doesn’t drop its needles and grows in a traditional shape. “Those are the ones you see in all the Hollywood movies,” he says. But the traditional tree – and the one chosen by Downing Street each year – is the Norway Spruce.
Across London, buying trends differ, with shoppers in Victoria Park or Brick Lane choosing much smaller trees, while in Battersea Park and Richmond Park, the seven or eight-foot trees are the most popular.
Pines and Needles, which will turn over £2.3m this year, has grown steadily since inception, and even the recession failed to dent its expansion.
Lyle and his brother plan to grow the business over the next five years, perhaps expanding to New York. Next year, the pair want to launch a floristry and gardening business to offset the seasonality of the Christmas company.
For now, selling season is in full swing, and Lyle is focused on financial forecasts, to make sure the business stays in the black all summer.
He’s also busy breaking up a few squabbles in the office.
“The girls in the office all want to be in the van when we deliver a tree to One Direction’s Louis Tomlinson,” he explains. “That always causes a lot of… excitement.”
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‘Gotham’ Recap: Selina and Bruce Scam Silver
November 25, 2015 by admin
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Barnes is back, much to Bullock’s dismay. He thought a stabbing should have kept the good captain out of their hair for a week. Barnes assigns Gordon to a new case, but he wants to continue chasing down possible leads implicating Galavan in other crimes. Gordon stresses to Barnes that he feels they’re missing something, something that’s going to come back and bite them in the ass. Why is Gordon so insecure? Because he paid a visit to Galavan the night before, and Theo was nonplussed. He certainly didn’t act like a guy who is facing at least a decade in jail.
Barnes, who obviously hasn’t learned anything during his short tenure as police captain, tells Gordon that moving on to a new case is for his own good.
While in Galavan’s apartment, Gordon spotted a cassocks (robes worn by religious guys) and some kind of symbol. Bullock had a local priest, Father Mike, look into the items. Bullock gets a call that the symbol has something to do with the Order of St. Dumas. The order used to have an abbey downtown, and as coincidence would have it, the former mayor, Galavan, tried to purchase the building the previous week. The new owner told Galavan to go piss up a rope. This is just too juicy a lead to pass up, so once again, Bullock and Gordon blow off Barnes and decide to follow it up.
The former abbey is now a massage parlor that gives happy endings. Gordon and Bullock arrive to the sound of gunshots and women in skimpy lingerie covered in blood fleeing the premises.
Gordon runs into one of Theo’s “brothers,” and after some hand-to-hand combat, Gordon manages to stab the guy with his own knife. He chases another gentleman out to the street, where he pulls his gun. The man in black says, “The day of reckoning is at hand, and the blood of nine shall wash away the sin.” He also says something about Gotham being cleansed before stepping into the path of an oncoming truck.
The Sacrifice of Nine
Gordon learns from witnesses that there were at least six monks. He tells Barnes that the Order of St. Dumas are penitents; they believe in purification through pain. They were big in Gotham until about 100 years ago.
Barnes orders Gordon to hand over all the info he has to another detective, but Gordon argues that the monks could be the key to whatever Galavan is planning. Barnes doesn’t care. He reminds Gordon that he gave him another case and to expressly move away from Galavan.
Gordon already has some intel on the other case. It involves the murder of a career street thug who was found with his throat slit. Gordon states that the man attacked a woman who reported that she was saved by a man dressed like a monk.
Now Gordon has Barnes’ undivided attention. Barnes can’t figure out why these monks would wipe out a bunch of businessmen getting handies and a common criminal. Gordon believes it’s some sort of ritual, and they need to figure out what Galavan stands to gain.
Gordon is determined to find a monk and make him talk. He has no doubt that whatever these monks are up to, it has something to do with Galavan’s trial.
Bruce Betrays Silver
Bruce hasn’t given up on finding out who killed his parents. He approaches Silver with a deal. He’ll pay for all of Theo’s legal expenses if Theo gives him a name. Silver is chafed to find out that Bruce thinks Galavan is guilty, but Brucie doesn’t care. He pleads with Silver to get the name. She questions why Bruce would trust Galavan to tell the truth, and Bruce says if she brings him the name, he’ll know it’s real. He plants a few kisses on the blonde minx, and she seems genuinely won over by Bruce. Maybe it’s those ears or that doofy haircut. Bruce just oozes earnestness from every pore.
Bruce gets a call from Silver after school. She claims that she spoke to her uncle and he’s agreed to the deal. Silver wants Bruce to meet her, so he ditches Alfred and is intercepted by a van containing two nefarious characters. One even has a scar running across his cheek. They’ve got Silver inside the van and her mouth is taped shut. Either Brucie comes with him or the girl gets it.
It becomes obvious pretty quick that Brucie has set this whole little kidnapping stunt up as a way to find out what Silver knows. Unfortunately, Silver doesn’t know jack. She just told Bruce she did as a way to distract him. Silver’s uncle told her to keep Bruce busy, convinced that he’ll be freed and still able to buy Bruce’s company.
Silver simpers and cries and puts on quite a show, but the man with the scar gets her to drop her facade. In spite of her threats of how Theo will gut “Scarface” if he doesn’t let Silver go, she starts to sing like a bird when he threatens to cut off one of her fingers. She says the man who killed Bruce’s parents was one M. Malone.
Bruce had a little help in executing this plan from Selina. She supplied the muscle. Scarface’s real name is Tom, and he and Cat go back a ways. Selina broke into Theo’s apartment and found a file Silver had on Bruce. It was obvious she was playing him, so Bruce decided to fight fire with fire.
Silver warns Bruce that Theo is a very bad man, and he’s likely to kill her when he finds out she gave Bruce the name. At this point, who the hell knows what’s up and what’s down? But Silver does appear to be concerned for Bruce’s safety — second to her own, of course. Silver may not think Bruce is capable of any follow-through, but he assures Silver that that is not the case. A very Batman moment.