TannenhofHISTORY

By now the Schneiders family has been working in the Christmas tree business for more than fifty years. It all started in Duisburg in the late fifties when Hermann und Marlies Schneiders dealt in fruits and vegetables. During the advent season they supplemented their offerings on the farmers’ markets with Christmas trees that were bought from foresters from Belgium or from the “Sauerland” in Germany. First the only trees offered were Norway spruces that were obtained by the normal thinning out of forests. In 1963 the family started selling Christmas trees at the “Super-Magazin” in Duisburg-Meiderich which was also their first stall that was exclusively used for selling Christmas trees. Here Marlies Schneiders continued selling Christmas trees every year until the end of 2012. During the years more and more places followed, mainly in the Ruhrgebiet.

Originally Hermann Schneiders and his family come from Hambuch (Eifel) where they were working as farmers. Soon Hermann Schneiders realised the potential of producing and selling Christmas trees and thus it didn’t take him long to set up the first commercial Christmas tree plantation on one of the family’s fields.

Working on the field during winter was burdensome. Cutting down the trees, removing them from the forest, loading them on trucks – everything had to be done under wintry weather conditions. Therefore Hermann Schneiders started thinking on how to improve the conditions and facilitate the work quite soon. The most important result of his efforts was probably the invention of a hydraulic machine to wrap the trees with the typical net for which he received a patent in 1980. However he was able to find solutions for all areas involved – starting at the beginning with improvements in planting the seedlings just till the end with facilitations of loading and selling.

In 2002 the company founder died of a heart attack in the middle of the Christmas season. Without hesitation his daughter Claudia and her husband Georg Valder took over the responsibility for the firm.

They started to restructure the company in a cautious but continuous manner. The traditional agriculture, the cattle-breeding and also the production of Hermann Schneiders’ wrapping machines were shut down whereas the cultivation of Christmas trees and the production of foliage have been expanded continuously. Today the company has roughly 120 hectare of cultivation area and is thus one of the big players in the Christmas tree business.

As the profitability of the stalls in the Ruhrgebiet decreased continuously – a result of the growing competition from building centres that sell Christmas trees for marketing reasons – these stalls were shut down gradually.

Today the aim of Tannenhof Schneiders is to produce Chrismas trees and foliage in large lot sizes but in a decent quality and for reasonable prices!

In the context of extensive but necessary restoration measures we have installed a huge solar power system on the halls’ roof in Hambuch in 2011.

Currently we are planning to set up an electrolysis facility with which we want to use the solar energy to produce hydrogen for fuel cell vehicles directly at the Tannenhof.

Our former cowshed has been transformed into an events hall with a capacity for up to 1000 people. The events at our location are growing in popularity among the people that are living in the surrounding region. Especially the “Homejer Fichtelkirmes” which is supported by the local associations of Hambuch has already become a constant in the event schedule.

The first steps have been made to establish the Tannenhof as an events location and cultural centre for the whole region.