Jul 9, 2009 6:21 pm US/Central
Christmas In July? Some Stores Say Yes
(WCCO)
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They call it Christmas creep -- when Christmas starts creeping into stores earlier and earlier each year.
CBS
Now that Fourth of July is out of the way -- it's about time to start decking the halls, right?
Some stores already are!
They call it Christmas creep -- when Christmas starts creeping into stores earlier and earlier each year.
Retailers have been having a tough time in the new economy. Thursday, Target reported a 6.2 percent drop in sales from a year ago; at its stores that have been open at least a year.
Retailers all reported weak sales and clothing stores in malls were hit the worst.
Some are hoping an early start to holiday shopping can help turn things around.
"This makes me a little irritated," said one shopper at the Mall of America who doesn't like seeing Christmas in July.
That's not the case at Hallmark stores, where every year, the second weekend in July is ornament premiere weekend.
"We're going to have gingerbread for our customers," said Jaimie Miller, the store manager at Kim's Hallmark store at the Mall of America, "and we're opening the doors early at 9 o'clock. We'll have Christmas music playing."
She gave WCCO-TV an early preview of the ornaments.
"These are covered until 9 o'clock on Saturday," said Miller, "So you guys are getting a sneak peek."
Christmas in July is a tradition at Hallmark and other specialty stories like Seasonal Living where Christmas is 60 percent of the sales.
Now Sears has announced that they're getting into the Christmas spirit early. The store wants shoppers to go online to a place they're calling "Christmas Lane."
"I'm just confused," said another shopper, "Why would you put it in the middle of summer?"
Marketing experts blame this Christmas creep on the economy. Consumers want to shop more carefully with the dollars they're spending.
"I just like to get a head start so I can enjoy other things around the actual holiday," said a shopper who enjoys Christmas early.
Christmas shopping can be a way to show we love someone and we're hanging in there during the tough economic times.
"It's just a fun way to keep the holidays alive," said Chuck Booth, a collector who looks forward to ornament premier weekend.
WCCO-TV checked with a few of the Sears stores around town. None of them had started to set up Christmas yet, but the Mall of America Sears said that as soon as they sold all the patio furniture, they did have some fake snow they are ready to install.
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