AN IRISH department store is gearing up for Christmas a whopping 132 days before December 25.
Brown Thomas is opening is Christmas shops this week, with the retailer set to begin selling festive goods across its shops in Dublin, Cork and Limerick.
It comes some five months early for most festive shoppers but has become something of an annual tradition for the department store.
Brown Thomas opened extra early last year and it evidently went down well with shoppers, hence the decision to repeat the process again in 2019.
Shoppers have already been given a glimpse of the Christmas decorations set to feature in the new displays.
Speaking to the Irish Sun, Brown Thomas buyer Edel Woods admitted that the move always manages to generate a reaction among shoppers – both good and bad.
"We get mixed reactions but we do get a lot of positive reaction as well,” Woods said.
Brown Thomas are stocking their Christmas Store and I’m excited 🎄 pic.twitter.com/po70qkavsT
— Graham Union (@grahamunion) August 13, 2019
The shop displays will come complete with decorations, Christmas trees and a unique array of themed gifts.
Woods was keen to stress that the move did offer some practical benefits to customers too.
"There's also lots of customers who do shop early for Christmas and comes in to get the best pick of decorations from the store,” he said.
"It gradually builds up and by mid-September when the kids are back at school."
"So from then onward it's really consistent. By mid-November we would have started to sell out of a lot of the decorations at that stage."
So dust off the decorations, crack out the Christmas jumpers and get those familiar compilation CDs spinning again – it’s the most wonderful time of the year. Already.
