Northern Lights Tree Farms was just the dream of a young girl who more than anything, enjoyed hiking through the fields with her father, owner of a large Christmas tree farm in Western Michigan. It may have begun as a journey with intentions of spending time with her dad, but it ended up as much more. The "young girl", NLTF owner Denise Pagura, grew up along side the trees she loved.
At age 9, she retailed trees for the entire 4 week season. At age 13 she started trimming trees and worked throughout the summers. By the time she was a junior in high school, Denise was attending school in the mornings; and through a work study program, was able to work on the tree farm the second half of each day. Her High School Guidance Counselor suggested Denise might be happy in a more traditional female profession as a teacher or nurse. She naturally told him she was going to be a tree farmer; he of course, gave her the impression that he didn't feel she would be successful in such an occupation. Defying the expectations of numberous people that viewed a woman's position to be in more traditional roles, Denise pursued her dream of becoming a tree farmer. |  |
From 1978-1985, Denise was employed full time working on the tree farm owned by her father and uncle. Her first accomplishment was to modernize their operation by implementing the use of computers. This allowed her to learn the business inside-out, top to bottom.
In 1980, Denise started retailing trees on her own. She quickly realized that she could make more money in a month working for herself than she could make in a whole year working for someone else. This compelled her to strike out on her own.
In 1981, she and her husband, Steve Pagura, met on one of her tree lots in East Columbus. Owner of a lot just down the street from her, he approached her hoping to purchase some of her excellent trees. When Denise discovered he was her competitor and that he had gotten stuck with some bad trees from a supplier, she refused the sale. Many people were walking off Steve's lot and buying trees at Denise's lot; she was enjoying a huge increase in sales at the nearby East Columbus lot.
The chance meeting on a Christmass Tree Lot spurres a professional and eventually romantic relationship resulting in a professional partnership and later marriage. In 1983, Steve and Denise Pagura formed S&D Tree Farm. By 1985, they changed the name to Northern Lights Tree Farms and boasted more than 10 retail locations in central Ohio.
Although with 4 retail sites the tree lots are an important facet of NLTF, wholesale business has grown so rapidly, we've found it necessary to limit the number of retail lots. These seasonal lots are usually manned by the same crew that works in our tree fields in Michigan. We also hire college students who are available during winter break. We've found that our Michigan employees benefit significantly from the customer contact, allowing them to better understand (and therefore provide) what our customers are looking for in a tree.
Drop by one of our retail locations and you'll notice a difference immediately. Not only do we provide excellent quality and beautiful trees, our employees are very proud of the product we sell. Our trees AND our emplyees are what set us apart from other growers.
 |