You may not even be thinking about back-to-school shopping yet, but some retailers are getting a jump on that other important consumer holiday: Christmas.
We all know someone who brags about having their Christmas shopping done before Halloween, and Costco stores appear ready to help them this year. Christmas trees, decorations, wrapping paper, and other seasonal items began appearing on the big box stores’ shelves in recent days.
Many customers were caught off guard, while some were happy to be reminded of their favourite holiday.
“Absolutely it’s crazy,” one Ottawa Costco customer told CTV News. “By the time Christmas comes around you don’t even want to take out your own decorations you’re so sick of them.”
“I was shocked,” said another customer. “It’s too early, but still it’s nice to see it.”
Another customer said she is already counting down the days to Christmas.
“I was actually really happy about it because I’m a Christmas fanatic,” she said, while eating an ice cream cone in the summer heat.
But at Ottawa’s Tinseltown Christmas Emporium, where Audy Czigler sells holiday wares 365 days a year, business doesn’t slow down just because Santa is sipping summer holiday Mai Thai’s on a beach somewhere.
“There’s quite an influx of Christmas in July parties that we’ve noticed,” Czigler told CTV. In fact, business is so good that the store is expanding.
With a report from CTV Ottawa’s Eric Longley
