The Holly Tree Inns were a system of inexpensive eating establishments in the northeastern United States in the 1870s.
They were intended to "provide substantial food at cost prices" to working women.
Of them, a reporter wrote that "an average of two-thirds of those who avail themselves of the privileges are persons who do not really need to economize, while one-third, consisting of milliners, shop-girls, etc.
live at the place from motives of economy, and save fully two-thirds in board."
It echoed the title of a Charles Dickens story, "The Boots at the Holly Tree Inn."