Thursday, November 19, 2009

Retailers, Can You Wait Until After Thanksgiving Before Putting Up The Christmas Decorations?

Last week I headed to the Dillard's in Mall St. Matthews to reload my Fashion Fair makeup and get some other items for my upcoming LI trip.

After breathing a sigh of relief that my Pure Brown foundation shade was in stock and successfully procuring it, since I was just down the street I decided to roll over to the other side of the Watterson Expressway and Oxmoor Center.

It's been a little over six months and ten dress sizes since I last saw some of my former Macy's coworkers. I was curious to know not only what was transpiring there but show off the Coke bottle shape as well.

I entered near the center of the mall and as I strolled through the central plaza heading toward the Macy's end I noticed Oxmoor Center maintenance personnel putting up the mall Christmas tree in the middle of the now shut off water fountain.

When I arrived at Macy's, I noticed some Christmas music was being mixed in with the other regular music selections. I also noticed the posters for the Christmas ad campaign were being put up as well.

One of the things that annoys me is the recent recurring trend of retailers trying to get a jump on their make or break sales season by putting Christmas decorations up before we've even gotten Thanksgiving, or in some cases Halloween out of the way. My local Walgreen's had their Christmas stuff up three days after Halloween was over.

I understand it's been a tough year retail wise. The recession has really hurt and taken out some small and large retailers in the process. Even iconic ones are feeling the pinch.

I understand why they're doing it. The retailers are trying to entice consumers into the stores.

But until we consumers get some raised credit limits and cash lining our purses and wallets, won't be much shopping done until we see sales that make it worth our while to spend our limited cash on or we absolutely, positively need that particular item you're selling.

I love the Christmas season as much as anybody, but damn, Thanksgiving hasn't happened yet. Thank God the radio stations at least hold off playing Christmas music until the day after Thanksgiving, or I'd really be muttering 'bah, humbug' under my breath at regular intervals.

We're going to get assaulted with Christmas commercials, music, the sights and sounds of the season for a month. Can you least hold off starting that onslaught of Christmas commercial cheer until I've at least had time to digest my Thanksgiving dinner?

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