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Stores Get Jump on Christmas
Christmas may be more than three months away, but some Louisville-area retailers are rolling out holiday merchandise to get a jump on the season.
At the Target store on Westport Road in St. Matthews, assistant manager John Mattingly said holiday lights and some decorations will hit the shelves today.
At T.J. Maxx on Taylorsville Road, rows of wooden nutcrackers, winged angels and Santa Claus figures are stacked next to orange-and-black Halloween items.
T.J. Maxx spokeswoman Laura McDowell said Christmas items were brought out the third week of August. Louisville resident Sharon Head had mixed reactions to the ultra-early holiday push.
"It is a little too early, although I like to look at it," she said during a shopping trip to T.J. Maxx last week.
Eleanor Alexander, who lives in Madison, Ind., offered a similar view.
"You should do each holiday in its time," she said.
Alexander didn't plan to buy any Christmas items at the store -- unless, of course, she found something "really terrific."
Perhaps the early holiday hype is not so crazy for retailers who want their share of consumers' holiday spending -- about $435 billion last year.
More than 21 percent of shoppers do some Christmas buying before the end of September, according to a National Retail Federation survey.
And though the federation has not released its official holiday-spending projection, it doesn't expect the increase to match last year's 6.1 percent growth.
Both factors could help explain the rush to put out holiday merchandise.
Still, not everyone in the industry thinks Christmas in September is a swell idea.
"It creates a disconnect with the consumer," retailing expert Marshal Cohen, chief analyst at NPD Group, told USA Today. "The consumer wants to buy now and wear now, but the retailer wants to sell six months in advance."
Other examples of early holiday merchandising:
Costco. The members-only discounter, which plans to open a store in northeastern Jefferson County next month, has 45 holiday-pegged toys on display and has holiday decorations, lighting and gift-wrap packs for sale at nearly all of its 358 stores, said Richard Galanti, chief financial officer.
"We don't want to be stuck with things the week before Christmas," he said, "so we bring them in early and get them out early."
Wal-Mart. Since early this month, the retail giant has been selling Christmas decorations and holiday-specific toys in most of its 3,231 U.S. stores, said Jolanda Stewart, a spokeswoman.
J.C. Penney. While the department-store chain has no holiday-specific merchandise on the floor, last week it began distributing 8 million copies of its Christmas 2006 Big Gift Book. About 5 million will be mailed; the remainder will be handed out at stores.
Toys "R" Us. Before September ends, the retailer will issue its annual Hot Toys list for the holidays, spokeswoman Kathleen Waugh said. But in its stores, the holiday being promoted is Halloween. Still, the holiday toy inventory is already coming in, she said. "Any customer who wants to get the shopping done early can."
Reporter Alex Davis can be reached at (502) 582-4644.
USA Today reporter Bruce Horovitz contributed to this story.
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