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Tag Archives: Christmas
Pottery Barn Pushes Santa Too Soon
Just this week I received a Pottery Barn catalog with a nice fall décor on the cover. As I flipped through the catalog, I was surprised to see Halloween decorations because it wasn’t something I expected from Pottery Barn. But that wasn’t what got me so fired up.
As I continued to flip through the pages, gasp, I saw Christmas decorations. Yes… Christmas decorations in September! How sickening. I just got our fall decorations out of the attic.
And Pottery Barn isn’t the only retailer trying to push Christmas. Toys R Us just released it’s “hot toy list” on Tuesday for the holiday season. This just sickens me. In fact, last year I started a Facebook page called “It’s Too Early For Christmas”. I thought seeing Santa in the mall before Thanksgiving was crazy, but Christmas in September is ludicrous.
Take a stand! Join the Facebook page and voice your opinion.
Help this Shopaholic! Retail Shelves are Bare!
Retailers and manufacturers would likely consider me their ideal holiday customer. I spent 8 hours with my mom and sister shopping for deals on Black Friday, and the day after Christmas I was at it again.
To my surprise, I didn’t find much at all the day after Christmas and was rather disappointed. Macy’s shoe department pickings were slim, and it was hard to find my size in their outerwear section. Express was out of sizes in jeans unless you were a size 0 or 2. Dick’s had little to no selection in North Face jackets, and J. Crew’s shelves were practically bare.
Just today the Associate Press reported that retailers kept inventory so low that they are having to bring in new merchandise to fill the shelve space. It is certainly good news that retailers experienced slightly higher sales than expected (a 3.6 percent increase from last year), but it didn’t translate into great deals or savings for consumers. Bah humbug!
Like It or Not Christmas Is Here!
The day after Halloween, I started seeing Walmart and Kohl’s holiday television ads. Pottery Barn already distributed its 1st holiday catalog, Target featured a toy guide in Sunday’s paper, Santa is already appearing in the malls, and just this week I started seeing direct response televisions ads for holiday music CDs. It is like we skipped Thanksgiving and went straight to the holiday season.
I completely understand why retailers are starting the holiday season advertising and marketing sooner, and it is apparently working because I’m already feeling like I’m behind with my holiday travel plans, holiday cards and holiday shopping. And I don’t think I’m the only one because the city of Wilmington put up its holiday decorations downtown last week and my sister has already been bugging me for gift ideas!
Personally, I think we as consumers need to take a stand. If we don’t, Christmas in July will soon be a reality! Join the “It’s Too Early for Christmas” Facebook group and take a stand http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=318417645693
