Christmas Tree Shops to lease distribution center

Christmas Tree Shops to lease distribution center    The Christmas Tree Shops, a unit of retailer Bed, Bath and Beyond, reportedly will open a large new distribution facility in Florence, N.J.
   Company officials could not be immediately reached, but several press reports in industry and local publications say the company will lease a 721,000-square-foot facility being built by Whitesell Construction that is slated to open early next year.
   Christmas Tree Shops, which has a distribution center in Middleboro, Mass. and operates 35 stores in eight states, said on its Web site that it planned to open additional stores and “a second state-of-the-art distribution center” in the coming year.