Hello and happy Christmas in July to everyone. How can supermarkets sell more Christmas trees? First we must ask what the customer is looking for. Most people today move at a fast pace and don’t have a lot of extra time to shop for a Christmas tree. So we need to try to make their shopping experience as convenient and enjoyable as possible.

The North Carolina Fraser fir was the Rodney Dangerfield of the forest in the 1970s — it got no respect. Today, it has reached stardom, accounting for upwards of $75 million in sales and chosen by more than 20 percent of consumers who buy farm-grown Christmas trees.

The Fraser fir is a 12-time winner of the national tree competition, displayed at the White House more than any other variety of Christmas tree. It is native to the Western Appalachian Mountains and now makes up 90 percent of all Christmas trees grown and harvested in North Carolina.

Market Street stores offered floral items — a Texas-grown greenery bouquet and basil and assorted herbs — in its annual Best of Texas Expo that took place weekends in July at all 11 Market Street stores in north and west Texas.

Bradley Gaines, director of floral for United/Market Street, said the heat and drought had limited floral offerings for the Best of Texas events that ended the last weekend in July. During the expo, stores featured top products from the Lone Star State, and had sample appetizers, entrees and desserts made from products grown in Texas.

After 17 years in the floral business, I will be retiring from Price Chopper Supermarkets Aug. 1. Here is a brief reflection on my career in floral.

I began in sales and marketing at a traditional regional wholesaler. In nearly every industry, the wholesale segment is getting squeezed out or eliminated, and floral is no exception. I would say the biggest learning I gained in wholesale floral was about the conventional florist. If you look at the absolute number of florists, there has been a precipitous decline over the past two decades.

The lease agreement for a $2 million perishables center at O’Hare International Airport in Chicago was approved by the city council there in a unanimous voice vote on June 26, two days after approval by the council’s committee on aviation. The ordinance calls for city officials to execute the lease within 30 days, according to Karen E. Pride, director of media relations for the Chicago Department of Aviation.

The farm-grown Christmas tree industry in this country is a billion-dollar industry that sold 24.5 million trees last year, and 2013 should see an increase, according to Rick Dungey, public relations director of the National Christmas Tree Association in Chesterfield, MO.