Oct 4, 2010

Businesses prepare displays for busiest time of the yearBy Greg JordanBDTOnline.com

Princeton, WV – Halloween pumpkins and candy are now for sale, but Christmas trimmings are hitting some store shelves already as retailers prepare for the busiest selling and buying season of the year.

Large retailers often start receiving Christmas merchandise in October, so they have to get it on the showroom floors; it cannot generate revenue by sitting in storage, one independent store owner said.

“Everyone is trying to get ahead of the other person,” said Elizabeth Osborne of Elizabeth’s Boutique. “They’re starting earlier and earlier, so it has to go on the floor (go on sale). You can’t have it sit in the back of the storeroom.”

Smaller retailers tend to start their Christmas promotions later.

“I will probably start putting up stuff by November,” Osborne predicted. “I don’t have to answer to anyone else.”

And Osborne added that she didn’t like starting Christmas promotions too early.

“It makes it too commercial,” she said.

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