SHOPPERS IN Brown Thomas yesterday looked uniformly bemused as they caught first sight of staff putting the finishing touches to the retailer’s Christmas shop which officially opens for business this morning.
While the upmarket department store on Dublin's Grafton Street appears to be suggesting that the season to be jolly now starts before we have even seen the back of August, most shoppers weren't buying it and everyone The Irish Timesspoke to thought the move was either "ridiculous", "bizarre" or "mad".
“Christmas loses its impact if we start seeing the decorations on sale this early so the magic disappears,” said Mary Duggan from Kilmacanogue, Co Wicklow. “I certainly wouldn’t be buying anything before November at the earliest.”
Ned Gleeson from Dundrum agreed. “I think it is absolutely ridiculous,” he said, shaking his head as staff put a large plastic tree in front of him. “It is utterly bizarre but I suppose it is the age we live in.”
“It’s mad,” said Sheila Kenny from Saggart, Co Dublin.
“Tomorrow is the last day of August and already there is Christmas stock on display. I don’t think this should be happening. I have four grown-up children and when they were young Christmas did not start until December 8th. I’m not really giving out and the decorations are lovely, I can’t deny that, but it is a bit much.”
Brown Thomas managing director Stephen Sealey accepted that the sight of high-class tinsel and Santa-filled snowglobes for sale would inevitably get some people’s backs up but pointed out that the store was only meeting demand. He said big stores in the UK opened their Christmas shops even earlier with some, including Harrods, keeping them open year round.
Mr Sealey pointed out that its Christmas section made up a tiny fraction of the overall floor space and said that as soon as the stock appeared people started buying it.
“There is a big difference between setting up the Christmas shop and the store going into full Christmas mode,” he said. “We would like to see Halloween out of the way before we do that.”
The Irish Timessplashed out on an expensive bauble in an attempt to buy the first decoration of the season, only to be told by a shop assistant that we had just been beaten to the punch by another shopper. When asked what class of person actually bought tree decorations in August, he shook his head and said he didn't know.
He also expressed relief that at least the Christmas music had not started playing yet although there are only 60 more sleeps until that particular torture begins.
In other Christmas-related news, Argos has launched its annual seasonal recruitment campaign and is seeking 800 festive helpers across the country.
“Argos is a fun, interesting and busy place to be over Christmas so we are excited about finding passionate and enthusiastic staff that can join the team,” said managing director Terry Duddy.
The company said many seasonal staff “enjoy the Argos Christmas spirit so much that they don’t want to leave” and secure permanent roles at the retailer.
