Christmas in October?

“I came here to buy myself an Easter treat, and all they have is stuff for Christmas!” This quote by Sally from ‘It’s the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown’ seems to spark a lot of questions from everyone. Why do stores sell their Christmas items so early?

Walking around my local Walmart Seasonal section in Plaistow NH, I find a lot of Halloween candy and other scary decorations for the upcoming holiday, but over in the Lawn and Garden section. Christmas trees and Saint Nick are being set up for all to buy, in the month of October…

This we may all find baffling, why do so many stores start selling their Christmas items so early? Christmas stands and apparels beat out both Halloween and Thanksgiving combined in terms of items sold and displays which enters why do start the sale of Christmas merchandise so early, Money.

For most stores around the globe the most profitable time of year is the holiday season (October through January). People want to buy their holiday decorations early to set up in their yards and spread holiday cheer. Stores like Walmart and Target know this. So they set their holiday season items early in October and November to maximize sales of these many, many items.

Walking into a Walmart now in October is like walking through a Christmas village. Most of the time, the lawn and garden sections of Walmart are redone from the many items for cookouts and outdoors and it is taken over by Christmas trees, candy, decorations, gifts, and much more.