From department stores to discounters, sales remained on a downward trend for retailers last month, more than a year and a half into the recession. . . . Some retailers are even starting to promote Christmasin hopes of getting consumers in more of a buying mood. Sears Holdings Corp. (SHLD) on Sunday opened Christmas shops in 372 Sears stores and also set up Christmas Lane boutiques at Sears.com and Kmart.com. (Emphasis added.)
On Sunday, while most of America was recovering from Fourth of July fireworks and cookouts, [Sears] launched an online boutique called Christmas Lane at Sears.com and Kmart.com. It also set up Christmas decor shops at 372 Sears stores . . . Sears typically waits until Nov. 1 to unveil its holiday merchandise, said Sears spokeswoman Natalie Norris-Howser. But with the recession putting a crimp in spending, the retailer is hoping to attract holiday shoppers early. “This is the first year we’ve done the Christmas Lane event,” said Norris-Howser. “We’re allowing customers to put these items on layaway and pay over time.” . . . Last year, worried about a slowdown in consumer spending, many merchants, including Home Depot, Kohl’s and Walgreens, began stocking their shelves with holiday wrapping paper, trim and trees in September. The phenomenon, known as Christmas creep, is expected to kick into overdrive this year as retailers fight for their share of shoppers’ shrinking pocketbooks.
Beginning with Black Friday, so named because it’s supposedly the day on which retailers finally make it into the black for the year, retailers’ sales brochures have been bedecked with Christmas iconography – red ribbons and bows, tree ornaments, strings of lights, mistletoe and holly, Santas and the like – but with few exceptions (given due credit below), none have had banner headlines proclaiming Christmas as the reason for the buying season they were so desperately encouraging. At J.C. Penney, it was an “After Thanksgiving furniture and mattress sale,” Sears touted a catchall “Friday and Saturday after Thanksgiving sale,” and at Lowe’s, the home-repair and hardware chain, it was “Let’s Holiday” – as if holiday were a verb. Office Depot similarly turned “gift” into a verb: “Gift smarter. The holiday gifts they really want.” Not to be outdone, Old Navy proclaimed an “Extravaganza humongous honkin’ 3-day BIG weekend sale.”
It’s not totally Grinchy out there. Pete finds that two chains — Kohl’s and Rite-Aid — consistently use “Christmas” in their ads. Read the whole thing.
WASHINGTON – Flanked by officials from the United Elf Toytinkerers union, SantaCorp CEO Kris Kringle today told the House Ways and Means Committee that without immediate government financial help, his firm would be forced to declare bankruptcy, lay off thousands of elves and reindeer, and potentially cancel its annual worldwide Christmas Eve toy delivery. “These are grim economic times for everyone, but even more so for non-profit toy manufacturers in the Snow Belt,” said Kringle. “Our accountants have indicated that we are on track to exhaust our reserves of cash and magical pixie fairydust by December 23. Oh deary me.” Kringle and UET union president Binky McGiggles presented a draft emergency bailout plan to the committee calling for US $18 trillion in federal grants, loan guarantees, and sugarplum gumdrops that they said would keep the company solvent through December 26. . . .
(Bumped and updated because this is the last day of guaranteed 2-day Christmas shipping at Amazon.com.)Less than 10 daysOne weekFIVE DAYS FOUR DAYS until Christmas! What to do? Run out to the mall, fight the crowds, and buy some them some crappy socks or a sausage-and-cheese package?
Instead, why not save yourself the hassle and order from our 2008 Holiday Book Sale? It’s easy, and Amazon will deliver your gifts nationwide.
