It’s the most wonderful time of the year, and every year, it seems to come earlier.
Thanksgiving is still almost two weeks away but many are stores are already setting up Christmas displays and selling holiday-oriented merchandise. Take a walk through the Nittany Mall and you’ll see Christmas Trees, twinkling lights, snow men, greeting cards and even a holiday train ride.
At the Bon-Ton store, they’ve just started to put up their Christmas decorations, but it looks as if they’ve been ready for months.
“It’s too labor intensive to put it all up at the same time,” Bon-Ton Store Manager Bruce Aungst says. “In about the third or fourth week of October we just start to put up the Christmas decor.”
Aungst says everything they have for Christmas should be out on display by the end of this week.
People actually do start coming into Bon-Ton as soon as they put their Christmas items out. Aungst says people shop early to get the best selection before everything gets picked over.
Aungst, though, says sometimes it goes beyond wanting to get the best selection.
“People do have this nostalgic feeling toward the holidays,” Aungst says. “Those are our earlier shoppers.”
Many of the items that get picked over first are often dinner sets, which people often collect by their patterns.
The Walmart Supercenter on the Benner Pike has also started rearranging its shelves to accommodate the holidays.
“We move some of the toys up front,” Adam Unger, Assistant Manager at Walmart, says. “It’s a company directive and we mark them down for customers.” Unger says Walmart begins putting out Christmas supplies right after Halloween.
According to Unger Walmart will continue to progressively put out Christmas supplies as the holiday season moves along. Walmart puts items on display based on what time of the season people may need them.
“Now we have a lot of decorations out,” Unger says. “As we get closer to December we’ll move more things out like wrapping paper.”
“It seems like people start buying earlier every year,” Unger says.
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