Retail column: Christmas comes early
| Monday, Nov 09 2009 02:25 PM
Last Updated Monday, Nov 09 2009 02:25 PM
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Courtenay Edelhart
Casey Christie / The Californian Christmas merchandise takes up a large section of Lowe's in northeast Bakersfield. Johana Gallegos gets ready to shake hands with Santa Claus while her daughter, Renata, wasn't too sure how to take it.
Casey Christie / The Californian Christmas merchandise is already on sale at Lowe's on Columbus Street in northeast Bakersfield.
Casey Christie / The Californian A ceramic manger scene and a puppy wearing a Santa hat share the same shelf at Lowe's on Columbus Street in northeast Bakersfield. Some stores are setting up early and hoping for a prosperous Christmas season.
One of the best things that ever happened to me was a temporary, one-year job I landed in the mid-1990s. The gig started Dec. 1, so I knew that on Dec. 1 of the following year, I’d be unemployed and broke.
Just in time for the holidays.
Anticipating that, I did Christmas and Chanukah shopping in June, dumping my stash in a closet like a squirrel stockpiling nuts for winter use.
When the holidays arrived and friends were grumbling about store crowds and epic battles for parking spaces, I bragged smugly that I’d been done shopping for months.
Felt so good I decided to make it a permanent tradition. I’d get all my holiday shopping done by Halloween, every year, for life.
But this year, retailers took a little of the fun out of my jump-start. As I raced to meet my self-imposed deadline, stores not only knew what I was up to, but were encouraging others to start early, too.
Some were brazen about it.
Kmart aired commercials about its holiday layaway plan before Halloween.
Lowe’s had Christmas trees and festive inflatables for sale in early October.
Other stores were more subtle, like the stocking stuffer-type merchandise at Rite-Aid in late September, or the red velvet dresses and green argyle sweater vests at The Children’s Place in mid-October.
Those stores weren’t exactly playing Christmas carols, but the intent was pretty clear.
This isn’t a new trend. Retailers have been putting holiday merchandise out well ahead of December for several years, now.
But the trend is more pronounced when the economy is soft, said Jackie Fernandez, a retail analyst with the Los Angeles office of Deloitte and Touche.
“We’ve seen this many times over the years,” she said. “When economic indicators are going south, they do it earlier and earlier. Sometimes, as soon as the end of September.”
It doesn’t always trigger early holiday purchases, Fernandez said, but that doesn’t mean there’s no reason to do it.
“Retailers are always looking to differentiate themselves, and if you’ve got Christmas decorations up in, well, June or something, people are going to be curious. They may come inside and look around and buy something — not necessarily Christmas presents, but something.”
Growl if you will about what I have dubbed “premature Christmas-elation.” Most stores are unapologetic.
“For the past several years now, we’ve tried to get decorations out by Oct. 1,” said Lowe’s spokeswoman Katie Cody. “A lot of people have their decorations up by Thanksgiving, so they start shopping in October.”
Others, one supposes, are a little embarrassed by pre-Halloween holiday displays. Kohl’s, for instance, declined an interview request when I told them what I was writing about. In mid-October, the department store was selling snowman neckties and Santa and tree print infant pajamas with reindeer face feet.
Before you start rolling your eyes, consider this.
Kern County’s double-digit unemployment has made dropping several hundred dollars all at once a severe hardship for many families.
Spread your shopping out over several months, though, and it’s not quite as painful. You might even be able to pay cash instead of plopping it all on already bloated credit cards.
Plus, remember what I said earlier about avoiding crowds at stores?
By the time you read this, I should have all my gifts purchased and wrapped. So while you’re running around like a maniac, my interfaith relatives and I are chillin’ out with eggnog and latkes.
(Tongue out.)
Nah nah nah naaaaah nah.
