Tree merchants brave cold on NYC streets

Martie Day is braving brutally cold weather while selling Christmas trees on a New York City street corner with the help of kind passersby.

"People bring us food, hot chocolate, coffee," said the Houston native. "They ask if we want anything. We say no, but they still bring it."

Day, 25, is one of hundreds of tree merchants who descend on the city each year between Thanksgiving and Christmas, crowding sidewalks with rows of fragrant Fraser and Douglas firs. Many of them sleep in their vans, shower at gyms or friends' homes and use the bathroom at nearby delis and convenience stores. An informal survey of tree stands finds that customers are paying an average $60 per tree, but prices range from place to place, going anywhere from $20 to $400.

Day, who works at a tree stand in midtown, said she doesn't mind the harsh conditions so long as she's meeting interesting people. Her favorite customers have been New Yorkers purchasing trees in the dead of night.

"We're open 24 hours, so that happens. I mean, if they want to buy a tree, I'm not going to not sell them a tree," she said, laughing. Day spends the rest of the year seeking odd jobs such as harvesting plums in Belgium or selling cigarettes in California.

Olivier T., who would not give his last name for fear of angering the distributors who supply his trees and secure his Astoria street corner, said he sells about $5,000 in trees and wreaths on a good day. He said he and his partner are paid one lump sum at the end of each season, making anywhere between $7,000 and $12,000 after their employers take a cut of the profits.

"For the time we're out here, it's good money. It's extra money," said Olivier, 29, of Quebec City.

The cash that Martin Chartrand, 42, has earned from four winters of hawking trees on the Upper East Side goes toward video equipment he uses to make documentaries around the world.

"Coming here to New York, you get to meet nice people. People see you in a favorable light and understand you're an artist, hoping for a break," the Montreal native said.

On the busy, final weekend before Christmas, Chartrand didn't have long to chat about his plans for the future before his partner brought him back to the present. "Martin!" she shouted. "You have clients. They want a tree."