I've never seen a camera with a date stamp like that...makes your wonder if the picture was photoshopped.

we're not past Thanksgiving yet!

Haha, wow. The Creep got past Thanksgiving decades ago! Where have you been?

The next frontier for the Creep is Independence Day.

I was a costco member for awhile. Christmas Trees are up in their stores before Halloween. I am not surprised....

You think they would at least go with the Nightmare Before Christmas. One has to ask, is that a halloween movie, or a Christmas one...

I would argue that the Christmas creep is a little less evil at Costco, since it's not a place where most people shop often - I only go every six months or so. So, when I was there a week ago, if I'd needed Christmas lights or something I would have walked the holiday aisle. Instead, we just chuckled at the tacky decorations, ie life-sized nativity scene made of twinkle lights.

@JediJohn82: What would they have photoshopped? He probably added the date in photoshop but.. really what else could he have done?

@JediJohn82: I added the date.

Yeah, I brought this up in the last Christmas Creep "episode." Lots of Christmas decorations for sale at Costco.

I saw Christmas Creep in my Costco last month as well. It was there two visits ago, I go every other weekend.

Seems like the retail industry is killing a golden goose.

The more of Christmas they impose on us, the less special special it is.

I am living temporarily in Langley BC Canada. Costco has had Christmas items out up here for more than 3 weeks. Crazy! This was a new one: I walked into Costco yesterday & I was told at the entrance by an employee that my backpack might be searched on the way out.
(No one checked my bag, but gee wiz.) Was I looking particularly sketchy yesterday?

Sam's Club has also gone straight to Christmas.

I suspect this year will be a meaner Christmas than last year - so they have to start early.

@Meg Marco:

So it *was* photoshopped! Que dramatic music: Duh Duh DUHHHHHH.

@AnxiousDemographic:

That's my thought exactly. If they start Christmas sales/decorations in September/October...when we get to December, no one will give a damn, or will have already bought their stuff, then the retailers will whine about how dreadful their holiday sales were. Well duh, you started in September, 1/3 of a year before the holiday, what did you expect?

@Luckwouldhaveit: "it's not a place where most people shop often - I only go every six months or so"

Congratulations! You are eminently qualified for a journalistic career, where "whatever me and my friends do" is a new national trend that applies to everyone.

Lots of people shop at Costco more often than twice a year. They have a pharmacy and a photo-developing service, for example.

@Saboth: I think they killed that goose a long time ago. I've been pissed off at the early christmas creep since at least 2002.

Costco always begins rolling out Christmas product the last week of August, happens at my warehouse and -- from all things I've heard -- other warehouses across the country.

Now what they play on the display televisions, that's completely up to management. The last few years, we always play A Christmas Story, however not until after Thanksgiving. On the other hand, our warehouse manager insists that our electronics department tune all display radios/receivers to whatever station plays all Christmas carols all the time the day they start with that, whether it be the first of November or the first of December.

@mythago: And contact lenses. And free samples!!!

I go to Costco about once every 6 weeks, but that's only because of a strict budget & v little room in the apartment. I'd go more often if it was feasible. It's on my way home from work.... so tempting.

These "Christmas creep" stories are a bit pointless in themselves, but the Costco ones are non-sequiturs. Costco sells to businesses and businesses need Christmas stuff early so they can start their own Christmas creep as it were.

Costco is not Wal-mart. Costco's seasonal merchandise scheduling makes sense for Costco's core customers. So can we at least have an end to the "Costco Christmas creep" stories?

Costco in general has an odd sense of seasonal - they stock everything earlier in the year by a good month or two than everyone else. In part because they cater to other people who sell stuff, but also because of the nature of Costco - it's a bulk store, which means people may not be coming in on the same level of regularity they might with say a grocery store.

Also, there's nothing inherently seasonal about Christmas movies. Lights, decorations, absolutely. But movies, even holiday themed ones, aren't limited in the same way that decorations are. I mean, I could have a Die Hard Xmas marathon or a Frosty Fourth of July marathon.

How many times do I have to say this? Costco has an established policy on how they manage their seasonal items. Mid-July starts the fall/winter, December starts spring, February starts the summer.

It's not creeping, and it isn't shifting. Why is it there? "The approach is based partly on Costco's unique membership and partly on traditional retail principles. For starters, one key reason that seasonal items are brought in before the rest of the retail world is because many Costco members are business members who resell the products in their own stores"

You can read that quote and more in the 2007 Costco Connection. Now, can we please, please, please, get off of this banality as far as Costco is concerned?

Here: [www.costcoconnection.com]

You can't have a happy Kwanzaa, Charlie Brown, until the Great Dolemite visits Linus in the pumpkin patch!

@Saboth: I expect that we'll start seeing Valentine's chocolate for sale on Christmas, with Easter eggs on sale in February...

@andi_bird: My backpack gets searched each time I leave Costco. They really dig around in there too.

@donnie5: Christmas, as Jack learns a lesson - there really isnt' a lesson in Halloween.

Except don't eat the candy with the razor blades.

@TCama:

Easter. They already got to July too.

So? Ya want a fresh Christmas Tree? Ya can get one any day of the year.

Lowe's here had the Halloween and Christmas stuff set up side by side last week.

It was kind of funny watching a 6 foot tall animated witch cackling and waving a broomstick at a 6 foot tall animated Santa Claus.