Oct 21, 2008

The retail before ChristmasBy Nicole PaitselDailyPress.com

Newport News, VA — On a sunny, 80-degree day last week — more than 15 days before Halloween — Wal-Mart employees in Newport News worked to put the finishing touches on their “Christmas Shop.”

And even though holiday music wasn’t playing yet, the smell of cinnamon hovered over customers as they walked past bright orange Jack-O-Lanterns to get to the Christmas trees.

It’s all an attempt by Wal-Mart, and other retailers, to jump-start the gift-giving season and combat steadily falling retail sales.

And there may be something to this early-bird theory. In an unscientific poll by the Daily Press, a little more than half of the shoppers asked said they did plan to cut back on the spending this season. And a more thorough survey recently conducted by Wal-Mart reported similar results.

“Yes, I plan to cut way back,” Williamsburg resident Mary Gall said.

“We’re in a depression, and I’m depressed,” Alexis Williams of Yorktown added.

But local shoppers were loud and clear when they said they don’t like the idea of Christmas before Halloween. About three quarters of the 50 local customers polled said they were not going to start shopping any earlier this year than usual, and that seeing holiday decorations on store shelves doesn’t sway their buying habits.

“Having it out doesn’t influence me at all,” Demetrius Gyant of Newport News said.

“But it’s got to be effective, because they’re putting things out earlier every year, and they wouldn’t do that if it wasn’t effective,” said Poquoson resident Michael Lawson. Business is still good for him, he said, and he doesn’t plan to cut back on spending at all.

Even international visitors, like Ann Antonio and Nicola Noon of England, plan to save money over the holidays, but they’re doing it by taking advantage of the U.S. dollar. We caught the ladies at Patrick Henry Mall in Newport News, and they said they planned to get most of their Christmas shopping done before they went home, because the English pound stretches much further here.

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