A Christmas Tree Story

A Christmas Tree Story

Their family business was an institution in South Jersey for over 75 years.

Much of their success grew on a single product - the Christmas Tree

Ralph Gaudio, the family patriarch, started in the grocery business in New Haven, Conn in1901 before moving to Camden around 1930 where he began as a fruit & produce huckster. He eventually opened a grocery store on Fairview St, in South Camden. 

His sons, Joseph & Arthur, followed in the food business, selling fruit & produce on the streets of Camden. Within a few years their huckster operation evolved into a wholesale fruit &

produce business on Mt Ephraim Ave, in Fairview 

- Gaudio Brothers.

They soon outgrew that and opened a distribution hub at 2nd & Kaighn in Camden, adding their youngest brother Alfred into the business. Meanwhile their father opened additional grocery stores, at the Mt Ephraim  Ave location, Westmont and National Park.

The Gaudio Brothers
Alfred left, Joseph right center,
and Arthur right

1935

1935

1939

The Kaighn Ave operation soon became so successful, that the family abandon the retail stores and expanded the wholesale operation to include a new product, frozen foods. Soon they were delivering frozen foods to groceries throughout the Delaware Valley with a fleet of refrigerated trucks.

141 Kaighn Ave, Camden, NJ

In 1936 they made a business decision that would change their future. They got into the Christmas tree business. They saw both a lack of supply and an increasing demand for trees around the holiday season. The brothers traveled to Canada in the fall and arranged the purchase of thousands of trees to
be transported back to Camden. They leased a ball field on Broadway, from the city of Camden, where they sold them. They continued these sales annually until 1953

1936

1944

 

In 1954 they decided to open their iconic "Christmas Wonderland" at 2800 Mt Ephraim Ave. It was an

almost immediate success and continued to grow and get more popular every year. It was the place to go for trees and decorations. In the early 1960's they added a second location in Woodbury and their stores featured the  "Dark Room",  a long darkened room with dozens of elaborately decorated and lit

tree. This was changed each year and later added artificial trees, the latest decorations, Christmas music and

animatronic figures. People would travel from miles to see it around and it going to Gaudios at

Christmas became a South Jersey tradition.

Grand Opening Ad 1954

1956

But Gaudios had a problem. Christmas sales were only two months of the year. What to do for the rest? Their first spring they sold Easter and Mothers Day flowers

 

There was so much demand, they decided that their new store would become a garden mart, adding shrubs, trees, tools, fertilizers etc. and in 1956 they opened as the Green Thumb Garden & Nursery Mart. Over the years they added swimming pools and lawn furniture.

1962

After almost 40 years in business, the brothers started looking towards retirement. They already had a business relationship with the Penn Fruit Supermarket chain and they were looking to expand into other markets. In May 1969, Gaudio sold all of their businesses and the name to Penn Fruit and the stores would continue to be operated as Gaudio's with additional stores to be built. The Gaudio family

would still be involved in the management. During the 1970's, 18 stores were added, in both South Jersey & the Philadelphia suburbs. They also expanded into crafts & as a do-it-yourself home remodeling center.

 

Unfortunately, Penn Fruit went bankrupt in 1975 and although the stores continued to operate but the Gaudio family was no longer involved. In 1989 Gaudios finally closed and several of the Gaudio stores were purchased by Franks Garden Nursery & Crafts Inc.

But the Gaudios were not done.

 In 1976, the family opened Gaudio Boys on RT 70 in Marlton as a Christmas  and Garden Mart. But the  new owners of the Penn Fruit Gaudio stores objected their name, since they owned rights to the Gaudio name. 

So it was changed to “The G Boys”. 

They successfully operated until 2012.

The G Boys, Rt 70 Marlton