A Beetle Cat sailboat sits outside 13 Willow Street in Yarmouth Port. Charles and Doreen Bilezikian bought this property and its business in 1970, when their son Greg was four years old. The family lived above the store, and when his parents traveled for work, his grandparents came and stayed on the third floor. The shop downstairs became the first Christmas Tree Shops.

The family grew that one shop into a chain of 23 stores. Bed Bath and Beyond bought the business in 2003, and Middleborough-based Handil Holdings bought it in 2020. In 2023 the chain filed for bankruptcy and closed all 83 of its stores. This November and December, Greg Bilezikian heads into the holidays with a single store at the original address. It's called Wharf, and it's much closer to the 1970 version than to the regional chain: a family-run shop in its first holiday season, sized to the village around it.

Where the other Cape stores ended up

Scale matters to this story, and the former Cape Cod locations show it. In March, the Cape Cod Times tracked what happened to six former Christmas Tree Shops on the Cape, and most of them are now very different businesses.

The Bilezikian family no longer owns the company, but it still owns several of the old buildings, including the one in Hyannis. Of the six, Willow Street is the only one that's a store run by the founding family again.

The Hyannis building gave up the most. Bilezikian took down its gingerbread-style wooden facade and bell tower during the Best Buy renovation. After Habitat for Humanity of Cape Cod asked about the tower, he offered the store's two 27-foot signs instead, and Boston.com reported that they went to auction with bidding starting at $1,000 and proceeds going to Habitat. Bidding ran from July 13 to August 2. One sign sold for $3,388 and the other for $3,398, more than three times the opening bid for each.

From Just Picked to Wharf in under four months

Before Wharf, the Willow Street building held Just Picked Gifts, which Bilezikian also owned. He closed it in March to rebrand. On March 17 he told the Cape Cod Times that "the traditional gift business that I've been working at has just been suffering with tariffs and changes in the world," and that "it's time for a new approach and a new look."

Customers came through the doors of the new store on July 6. As the Cape Cod Times described his thinking that day, the new approach was about where things were bought as much as what was bought:

"I thought of products and an environment where people would be able to relate to the place and space where they are purchasing things that would help them create memories around Cape Cod or relive memories of being here."

The stock is built for that idea. The Times story lists watercolor workbooks, wooden board games, beachcombers' guides, and books on Cape Cod history. It also mentions whale sculptures made from reclaimed metal drums, hand-painted ceramic bowls, small gold-filigree scissors, feathered quill pens, lobster-print pillows and linens, and notecards by local artists. On opening week, one shopper carried a copy of Henry Beston's "The Outermost House," and another asked about platters made by a local artist whose shop is just down the road.

Customers are invited to try the products in the store. There's a paper-covered children's table, and wooden toys are laid out for kids to play with. "You can paint here, draw here, there's a children's table. It's not just a one-dimensional shopping environment," Bilezikian told the paper. He also said the store would "focus on products made in New England and the US as much as we can."

Wharf's own description reaches back to the village's waterfront, where "neighbors gathered, ships arrived with provisions, and visitors were welcomed." It calls the store "a modern gathering place."

The old name, on a new website

One line on Wharf's homepage connects the store to its past more directly than anything on the shelves. The store says it is "in the process of setting up our online merchandise system for Christmas Tree Shops products." Until that system is running, customers can order by calling the store at 508-362-0207.

The site lists "today" hours of 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. but no weekly winter schedule, so call before planning a holiday shopping trip around it.

The store has also been reaching beyond Willow Street. The Yarmouth Chamber's 2026 sand-sculpture trail lists Wharf as the sponsor of the sculpture on Strawberry Lane at the Yarmouth Port Green. That's the same green where the village tree goes up in December.

The family's other Yarmouth Port address

Wharf is one of two Bilezikian ventures in the village. The other is Lighthouse Keeper's Pantry, a café and gourmet shop at 173 Main Street on Route 6A. He and Kelly O'Connell launched the Lighthouse Keeper's food brand together in 2021. The Cape Cod Times reported in September that the business started as a roadside jam stand, moved into its café space in 2021, and now sells grab-and-go sandwiches every day.

Unlike most of the season's events, the café runs on a year-round schedule. It's open daily from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Its best-known drink is the Fluffy Seagull, an iced latte made with peanut butter and Fluff that took off on TikTok in summer 2025.

The two businesses are linked in practical ways too. The former Christmas Tree Shops store on Route 28 in West Dennis is now a distribution center for Lighthouse Keeper's products. In July, Bilezikian said he planned to open a gourmet food section on Wharf's second floor "sometime in August." It would carry Lighthouse Keeper's Pantry jams and jellies, plus a new line of coastal-themed candy and snacks. If you're making a food-gift list, ask at the Willow Street counter whether the upstairs is open.

The holiday calendar Wharf opens into

The store's first holiday season falls inside a village calendar that's also small and local. Most of it happens at a few addresses along Route 6A. Here's what's posted from now through mid-December:

1. Sunday, November 15, 2 p.m. The Historical Society of Old Yarmouth holds its annual meeting on Zoom.
2. Wednesday, November 18, 4:15 to 5:15 p.m. The Edward Gorey House at 8 Strawberry Lane hosts its "Books, Please!" book club, reading John Masefield's "The Midnight Folk."
3. Sunday, November 29, 3 p.m. The Cape Cod Songbirds give a Christmas-themed concert at Thacher Hall.
4. Friday, December 4, 7 p.m. The Cape Cod Surftones and Cranberry Shores Chorus perform a holiday a cappella concert at Thacher Hall.
5. December 4 and 5. HSOY runs Victorian Christmas tours at the Captain Bangs Hallet House. Times haven't been posted yet.
6. Sunday, December 6, 1 to 4 p.m. The Yarmouth Port Christmas Stroll runs along Route 6A, with the tree lighting on the Village Green at 4:15 p.m.
7. Thursday, December 10, 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. The Edward Gorey House and Thacher Hall host a Gorey-lettering workshop at Thacher Hall, 266 Route 6A.
8. Wednesday, December 16, 7 p.m. Thacher Hall holds its free annual holiday caroling with the restored organ and a Steinway piano. Donations go to the Yarmouth Food Pantry.

The Stroll is the busiest day of the season. The Yarmouth Chamber and the Historical Society of Old Yarmouth host it together, with trolley rides, music, and strolling entertainers. The Chamber says businesses along the route will offer special deals and holiday treats. The event is free, and Thacher Hall's listing adds Santa, vendors, and entertainment inside the hall. The Chamber's overview also mentions crafts, face painting, and a petting zoo. One line of Thacher Hall's description says "December 7th," but both its own date field and the Chamber list Sunday, December 6.

The Edward Gorey House is open on winter hours through December 27: Fridays and Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., and Sundays from noon to 4 p.m. Reservations are strongly suggested.

The Stroll ends at 4:15 p.m. on December 6 with the tree lighting on the Village Green, the same green where Wharf sponsored this year's sand sculpture.

If you own a home here with its own history, or you're thinking about what your house's next chapter might be, The Cape House Team would love to hear about it over a Fluffy Seagull. Start Your Cape Cod Story.