Run a Christmas Tree Lot HQ, Land and Workers

HQ tiers

Your HQ is the building that holds the Lot Manager computer. Each tier changes its look (tent, pavilion, chalet, lodge), opens more trees and raises how many staff you can employ. The Land tab shows only the next tier's requirements, so later tiers are less documented.

1. HQ 1 Starter Sales Tent Starting HQ: 4 tree kinds, you run checkout yourself, room for 2 employees.
2. HQ 2 Christmas Pavilion 4 new trees, 2 checkout stations, 3 employee capacity, customer patience +12%.
3. HQ 3 Christmas Market Chalet 4 more trees, 2 checkouts, 5 employee capacity.
4. HQ 4 Christmas Lodge Unlocks the Lot Manager hire.

Upgrading the HQ rebuilds it in place, and the new building can be larger. One player had to move rows of trees after HQ 2 because the pavilion covered more ground than the tent, so leave some space around the HQ when you lay out the first rows. HQ 2 also adds new decorations to the Decorate menu, such as Santa's workshop tiles, an icy stone path, a North Pole sign and a giant nutcracker.

Land: lot expansion and parking

The Land tab sells three things that are built straight onto your lot: more land, more parking and the HQ. The costs below are the ones the tab showed for a new North America lot.

Delivery storage matters more than it sounds. Every wholesale order lands in the delivery area ("Delivery area: 0 / 30 free, Bays 0 / 4" at the start), and you or a Lot Worker carry trees from there to the lot. Once storage is full, a big order will not fit, so the first expansion is also what lets you order in bulk.

Employees: cashier, lot worker and lot manager

Hire staff from the Employees tab. A new lot has room for 2 employees ("0 / 2 hired"); HQ 2 raises it to 3 and HQ 3 to 5. Until you hire a cashier, the tab reminds you that you run checkout yourself.

Which worker to hire first

Most players in the recordings hired the Lot Worker first. Carrying each delivered tree to its spot and then each sold tree to the customer's car is the slowest part of the job, and the worker does both, sorting deliveries into rows on their own. The Cashier frees you from the register, which matters once several cars queue at once. Both cost less than the $2,500 cash the HQ 2 upgrade asks for, so hire them before you save for it.

Breaks and tired workers

Staff take breaks. Recordings show a lot worker announcing a staff break and walking off mid-rush, and a cashier leaving the register for the break area, then returning. A co-op player also noticed a tiredness bar under a worker. You can move the break area with the Layout tool; after an upgrade one lot had two break chairs instead of one, so two staff could rest at once. During a break you do the work yourself.

A sensible upgrade order

1. Sell the starter order and finish the first daily quests for cash and reputation (see the beginner guide).
2. Buy Parking Tier 2 ($600 in two recordings); the HQ card wants it at 4 of 4 spaces.
3. Hire a Lot Worker ($1,800), then a Cashier ($1,200).
4. Buy Lot Expansion 1 ($1,200) for space and 40 delivery storage.
5. Keep five-star reviews coming until you pass 250 reputation, save $2,500 and upgrade to the Christmas Pavilion.
6. Add the four new HQ 2 trees, a third employee and Parking Tier 3.

With the working codes redeemed you can do steps 2-5 almost at once: the cash codes give $45,000 and HOHOHO alone gives 4,000 reputation.