Nov 17, 2010

Roseburg retailers stretching back Xmas shopping seasonBy Craig ReedNRToday.com

The Christmas shopping season isn’t confined to December anymore.

For more than a few years now, Christmas shopping has been stretched back months prior to that special day of giving and receiving gifts. Ornaments are displayed at Hallmark stores beginning in July. Direct mail advertising to pitch new gift ideas and specials to past customers begins in late summer. Kmart stores begin putting Christmas items out in September.

“Anything unique and new sells immediately,” said Dane Zahner, the manager at the Roseburg Kmart store. “I think people start shopping almost immediately.”

Christmas displays then come out in force on Nov. 1, the day after Halloween. In the retail business world, Thanksgiving barely gets a glance as Christmas is the major target. Grocery stores, however, do love Thanksgiving as well as the ensuing Christmas and New Year’s holidays because of all the baking, cooking and eating that people enjoy.

“I think people start shopping (for Christmas) in midsummer,” said Zahner. “People always have it in mind. They’re looking for a deal.

“When the Halloween decorations go down, Christmas decorations go up,” he added. “Thanksgiving kind of gets skipped.”

“Thanksgiving does get lost,” said Donna Wright, the store manager for Harvard Avenue Drugs & Gifts in Roseburg. “Christmas is so much of a bigger event. At least five years ago, Christmas things started coming out sooner and sooner. And more shoppers seem to be starting earlier looking for deals.”

Read complete article.