Christmas in September?

After working for a major retailer for over 10 years, Christmas in September is a normal occurrence.

The first couple years it's kind of cool. You get to see all the new holiday decorations before everyone else. As time went on, it got kind of boring, and seeing Christmas every day from September to January starts to desensitize you. You stop looking at Christmas as an exciting time of year and start looking at it as another department in the store that you have to clean up and restock after hundreds of customers have walked through and had their way with it.

After seven years away from mass retail, Christmas is starting to get exciting again. Breaking out the decorations. Hanging lights. Heck, I am even guilty of wanting to go out with my wife and son to check out all the decorated houses in the neighbourhood.

Seeing Christmas in September sucks, however it’s not the local retailers' fault. 

They are usually given time lines by someone higher up as to when they are receiving their Christmas stock, when they have to have their Christmas merchandise out on the floor, and when they can expect a corporate visitor to check up on them to ensure they are keeping up image and timelines. 

Unfortunately, stores receive Christmas stock in September and don’t usually have room to store it for too long as they also have their regular stock flowing in as well, so that forces them to get it out on the floor in September.   Rome wasn’t built in a day, and Christmas wasn’t merchandised in a day, either. 

Yes Christmas in September wears thin on retail workers. As a consumer who worked in large retail, I understand why we are seeing Christmas earlier and earlier. I even understand why in some stores the staff don’t look as excited about Christmas as others. It's like working at McDonald's for a year and having a Big Mac for dinner. It's just not as special anymore. 

Justin Strewons