The Chicago Tribune confirms that Christmas is creeping up earlier this year as skittish retailers try to stay ahead of the ever-crescendoing non-recession. Walgreens, Kohls, and Home Depot were all singled out for defying the calendar, but blame also belongs with consumers who fuel seasonal ignorance with their buying choices.

Chandra Greer, owner of a luxury paper store in Old Town, decided to jump on the Christmas creep bandwagon for the first time this year. She held a holiday sale last weekend, offering markdowns of 25 percent to 90 percent on cards, stationery and wrapping paper.

“Not only have we never had a holiday sale, we never had a sale before,” said Greer, whose store goes by her last name. “Given what’s going on in the economy, we felt a sale would be well-received.”

The promotion generated 75 percent more in dollar volume than an average day, even with the steep discounts, said Greer, who had planned to take the day off but went to the store to help clerks handle the crowd.

In these days of heady excess, we could all benefit by waiting until after Thanksgiving to kick off our holiday binge-shopping.

‘Christmas creep’ hits earlier this season [The Chicago Tribune]
(Photo: ?onne)

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