Christmas Tree Shops

In 1970, Charles Bilezikian and his wife Doreen opened the first Christmas Tree Shops in Yarmouth Port, Massachusetts on Cape Cod. The original location comprised three separate buildings: the Front Shop, the Back Shop and the Barn Shop (which mostly sold penny candy), hence the pluralization of the store's name. The first complex, which the Bilezikians lived above, was on Route 6A, and it was open seasonally in the spring through early fall.[5]

Beginning in the 1980s, the chain began expanding beyond Cape Cod, growing to reach eight stores by 1984.[6] That year, the company purchased the Cape Cod Coliseum and converted it to a warehouse. The chain then entered Connecticut with a store in Manchester in September 1993.[7]

In the mid-1990s, Christmas Tree Shops introduced a series of commercials in which the chain's customers were recorded showcasing items they purchased, paired with the soon-to-be famous jingle, "Don't you just love a bargain?". This campaign lasted well into the 2000s.[8]

The chain was acquired by Bed Bath & Beyond in 2003, though the Bilezikians remained involved in its executive operations. Under Bed Bath & Beyond, the chain began to expand beyond New England, arriving in Bed Bath & Beyond's native New Jersey in 2006, followed by Delaware and Pennsylvania in 2007. The following year, the chain entered the Midwest, with stores in Michigan and Ohio opening in late 2008.

The original stores on Route 6A were closed in January 2007, though the site is now occupied by stores owned by the Bilezikians' son Greg.[9] Some of the earlier Cape Cod stores, as in West Dennis, are dwarfed by recently built stores.

In 2013, Christmas Tree Shops introduced a new brand and store format called Christmas Tree Shops andThat!, with the name change intended to avoid confusion in new markets unfamiliar with the store.[10][11] By 2016, the name was shortened to simply "andThat!" for all new stores opened under Bed Bath & Beyond.

Bed Bath & Beyond sold Christmas Tree Shops and its Middleborough, Massachusetts distribution center to Handil Holdings, a private company, for an undisclosed amount in November 2020.[12][13] A year later, in November 2021, the company opened nineteen pop-up holiday-themed stores across the United States; these remained open through January 3, 2022.[14]

In 2022, the brand's logo was updated to prominently feature 'CTS,' and the chain's tagline was changed from 'Every Season, Every Reason' to the well known jingle 'Don't you just love a bargain?'. The chain's first new permanent stores under Handil, in Estero, Pembroke Pines, and Sarasota, Florida, opened throughout 2022.

On May 4, 2023, following the collapse of its former parent company, Bed Bath & Beyond, Christmas Tree Shops announced that it was preparing to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection;[15] the chain and its parent company, Handil Holdings, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy the next day, May 5.[16] Plans call for the closure of ten underperforming stores, allowing the company to restructure operations and emerge from bankruptcy by August.[17]