To be fair, mcairney, it's not the cost of the trees themselves, it's installing them. Digging out to the necessary depth means dealing with utilities, then you have to do more expensive digging and reinforcement work to contain the root system so you don't get slumping or heave in the surrounding paving in a few years. If you don't want to do that, you have to buy huge expensive specialist planters.
It's still a stupid, petty, false economy that will lock in a less pleasant shopping and lingering experience for years and years, but it's not quite as dumb as it first seems.
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