Friday, October 26, 2012

Signs Of The Season?

 I know some stores set up their Christmas departments last month, but last week a mall walker told me she'd seen trees with white lights in one of the store windows, and she started complaining about how early the decorations were coming out.  I had to agree.

Even though long sleeved shirts, fall sweaters, and coats still fill the majority of the mall's windows, there are signs that the holidays will be here soon.  Some of them are subtle...
  • The mall just announced the hours for the holiday season, starting with Black Friday and going through the end of the year.
  • A few of the women's stores have window displays of glittery festive wear.  
  • A children's store has a prominent arrangement of party dresses right as you walk in. 
  • That white-light tree, which turned out to be more like a spray than a tree, and made out of fiber optics.  (Could be holiday, could not.)
Some of the signs are more explicit...
  • The Hallmark store has nicely-piled stacks of Christmas decorations visible all across the front of the store.
  • One of the anchor stores has large decorated trees adorning the area right inside the entrance from the mall.
  • A second anchor store sports a massive decorated garland around the top of the escalator area.
 I despise the "Christmas Creep", but I know Mall Management won't consult with me.  I know that when I come into work one day after Halloween they'll be starting to put up the mall decorations.  I guess that WILL be the real sign...

8 comments:

  1. It's all about making money Kathy...terrrible

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  2. On July 3rd, I took a phone photo at Hobby Lobby of a 4th of July display... with Christmas decorations in the background. :-( It was 105 outside which didn't help my sour mood either.

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    1. I (almost) understand craft stores getting a jump on the season by putting out holiday materials. Christmas crafting takes a long time to do. Straight-up decorations, though, don't seem right.

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  3. The holiday season goes quickly. Party planning and events create a need for fancy party wear early on. As for decorations, many people start planning what they will buy and how they will decorate for those parties & event very early in the season. I do understand, from a retailers standpoint, why it all goes up so early.

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    1. I understand the party wear, and know that some people like to start their planning and shopping far in advance. It seems almost self-fulfilling, though; people will shop (and feel like they're behind the ball) just because they see holiday items out.

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  4. Kathy here it's full out Christmas season in the malls, well almost. All that's missing is the Christmas trees and decorations, the stores are full of decorations, mounds of toys, wrap, cards, etc., and Halloween isn't even here yet! I was even buying into the pre-shopping today, I have the family Christmas party on Dec. 1st and need one small gift, I figure if I start early I can find something good on sale for the annual gift exchange. It's hard to believe that I've already bought most of the things for Christmas baking already as well, I guess I have way more time on my hands than I'm accustomed to.

    Have a wonderful week!

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    1. You sound like you need another project to fill your time up :-)

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