Oregon Christmas Trees to Maui (rent, how much, buying)

[Kelly4Sun]

Aloha Everyone,

My husband and I live in Oregon and have heard that quite a few people ship Christmas trees to Maui and to some of the other islands and sell them during the Holiday season. I'm interested in hearing some input on that idea. Thanks in advance for your thoughts on this.

Many Mahalos,
Kelly

[OpenD]

It's not a huge business. They're expensive, and a lot of people pass on buying a dead tree and instead decorate a live one in a pot, or use an artificial one. THOSE sell even better.

[hothulamaui]

the trees come over by the container and are inspected by the agriculture dept. every year you hear of at least one container being turned back because of pests that have contaminated the shipment. once here you would rent a spot to sell, they seem to be on the same corner every year so I am guessing it is the same seller over and over again you may be competing with for both space and customers.

[Kelly4Sun]

Mahalo for the insight on this topic. It's all very interesting. How would one go about renting a spot to sell the trees? Is all of Maui pretty saturated with tree sellers, or is there some areas that are more popular than others?

Many Mahalos again
Kelly

[survivorqt]

ask various shopping center's management

[hothulamaui]

the tree lots are on private property so it would be a matter of contacting the owner maybe through tax records. there were several sellers in the kahului are and I am sure the same can be said about both west and south shores.

[Dreaming of Hawaii]

I would think that finding a spot to sell is not the first thing you need to be concerned with. You should check with the agriculture department and find out what kind of regulations they have for importing Christmas trees. Like an earlier person posted, they inspect the shipments and if any pests are found you'll be responsible for returning the trees to Oregon. Can you really make enough money to pay for shipping a container to Maui? Do you know how much people in Hawaii will pay for a tree?

[hotzcatz]

From what I've noticed there are generally either way too many trees or not enough. It seems to go every other year is feast or famine, although I forget which year we were in this year. We have a potted Norfolk which gets brought in and decorated each year. Those have tons of room between the branches to hang ornaments, not like decorating the outside of the tree like the imported ones.

If you are trying to sell Christmas trees, it might be easier to contact different groups and see if they want a container of trees as a fund raiser.

[OpenD]

The time honored way of learning a business like this is to spend a season working for someone who is already successful.

Trying to invent a business like this from the ground up is the hardest way to do it. And it's mostly the things you don't even think to ask that will kill you. Working for someone else will fill in a lot of those blanks.

Unlike the previous poster, I think the location issue will be your biggest challenge. Why? Because at least the import issues are something you can get clear information on. But location is something you need to develop an instinct for, as well as have a LOT of local info, and you will have lots of competition for the best spots. And location, location, location is half the battle with businesses like this.

[Kelly4Sun]

Mahalo to all of you for your great ideas and advice. We have a lot of research yet to do. We thought that since we love Maui so much, this would be a great way to get involved with the community,meet many new people and to hopefully make a little profit, at least help pay for our annual vacations there .

As you all know, times are tough everywhere, my husband and I own a small concrete business here in Redmond Oregon and needless to say business isn't exactly booming. With that said, we are always trying to brainstorm new business ideas to compensate for the downfall of the building market. We love Oregon and we love Maui. So.. when we heard that some of the tree sellers here in Oregon were shipping and selling Christmas trees in Hawaii, we had to look into it.

Many Mahalos to you all,
Kelly