Ayrin Mathias, of Shepherdstown, and Miranda Martin, of Martinsburg, stand beside their lot’s iconic little Christmas tree, nicknamed “Charlie” after the main character in the Peanuts comic strip, who bought a similar tree, on Saturday afternoon. Tabitha Johnston

SHEPHERDSTOWN — For many years, Shepherdstown resident Ayrin Mathias and her husband have talked about setting up a Christmas tree lot in town. But every year, that dream would be forgotten, due to their busy schedules around the holiday season.

Then this November the idea quickly turned into a business plan, when Mathias and her husband, who own Mathias Lawn Care, met for dinner with Miranda Martin and her husband, the owners of Mountain State Mowing LLC. Mathias and Martin realized, during the course of their dinner conversation, that they both shared the same desire, to open a Christmas tree lot in Shepherdstown. And, with their husbands focusing on their main businesses, the two women were able to dive directly into turning the idea into a reality.

“We went up to the annual Christmas tree auction in Mifflinburg, Pennsylvania, which is about a three-hour drive,” Mathias said, referring to the Buffalo Valley Produce Auction, which was held on Nov. 18-19.

“We have 10 trees left, out of the 90 we bought. I think we might sell out of them soon,” Mathias said, in an interview on Saturday afternoon. “Today, we started out with 15 trees, and already sold five of them this morning.”

According to Mathias, she and Martin went out of their way, to ensure their business would interfere as little as possible with that of other established Christmas tree sellers in Shepherdstown, such as Potomac Farms Nursery, by mainly being open when they were closed. They opened their Christmas tree lot, by permission, on a client’s property, on the corner of Martinsburg Pike and Old Martinsburg Road.

A new Christmas tree lot, run by Mathias Lawn Care and Mountain State Mowing LLC, sprung up along Martinsburg Pike this year. Tabitha Johnston

“We saw most nurseries close at 4 p.m., during the week,” Mathias said. “During the week, we would be selling here from 4-7 p.m., when people would get out from work. And then on the weekends, we would be out here all day. We didn’t want to be the new, intrusive person on the block.”

Martin noted that people tended to stop by their Christmas tree lot, either out of curiosity or need. Those who visited it out of curiosity, were most often drawn in by seeing Martin’s husband dressed up as the Grinch. While he did not spend every weekend dressed in costume in the tree lot, the time her husband did spend as the Grinch drew a number of passersby, interested in taking photographs with him. Those who came to the tree lot out of need, were often directed there by other local Christmas tree salesmen, who ran out of trees to sell, due to the nationwide Christmas tree shortage.

One of those salesmen was Potomac Farms Nursery cashier Michelle Morrison.

“Normally we get around 300 trees to sell every holiday season. This year, the Christmas tree farmer we buy ours from would only allow us to buy 100. Our Christmas tree person cut all of her clients by 60 percent,” Morrison said. “I think a lot of it is, tree farmers can’t find enough people to plant the trees and prune them.

“We were going to increase our number of Christmas trees this year, but then we found out we couldn’t even get our normal ones. We could only get seven feet and under, although we usually buy trees as high as 12 feet tall,” Morrison said, mentioning the taller trees required more pruning manpower, which their tree supplier didn’t have. “The tree shortage will impact us, but not as much as it is hurting the public.”

A tiny evergreen shrub stands in front of Potomac Farms Nursery on Saturday afternoon. Tabitha Johnston

Mathias and Martin themselves had seen evidence of the tree shortage, at the Buffalo Valley Produce Auction.

“There were people from Alabama and New York at the auction. They had to come from that far away to get trees,” Mathias said.

Next year, Mathias and Martin said they plan to return with their lot to the same location, accompanied by the Grinch and an even greater number of trees.