On Oct. 30, not a single costume, mask or trick-or-treat bucket was in sight at Valley River Center’s J.C. Penney. Though it was the day before All Hallows’ Eve, the store’s appearance could have easily been mistaken for mid-December. Green pine swags with red and gold bows were draped over the store, hovering above various gift boxes with red ribbons. A lone table of small, discounted Halloween-themed toys stood hidden in the masses of holiday gifts.
Forty-nine days remain until Christmas. And with nearly two months to go, companies are scrambling to earn consumers’ attention. Whether it’s looked at with delight or disgust, many people are noticing the early promotion of holiday goods.
“They’re just trying to make a buck,” University senior Geoff Britton said.
By making their stores “Christmas-y” as early as October, Britton said companies “are just trying to extend the season longer to weasel some more money out of something that’s good.”
Britton said the holiday promotion blitz begins too early in Oregon, but at least it doesn’t start in September like it did when he lived in California.
“The holidays have been getting earlier and earlier consistently for the past ten years,” said University junior Kristen Campbell-Schmitt. The international studies major said she’s not even thinking about Thanksgiving yet, much less Christmas.
Campbell-Schmitt said the early commercial blitz is anticlimactic to the season’s atmosphere.
“It takes away the holiday spirit in my mind. It becomes marketing, not a holiday,” she said.
The reason for such early promotion is economic strategy, said Del I. Hawkins, University marketing professor.
“When and how much you need to promote is an important and risky decision,” Hawkins said. “If a lot of businesses promote early, then what it might do is boost sales and boost the economy.”
That, in turn, could move people back into a more “normal” economy to survive the “emotional hangover” of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, he said.
Hawkins said businesses are realizing how crucial this holiday season is, with all of the potential gift-buying for Hanukkah, Christmas and Kwanzaa.

“The percent of sales that a lot of retail stores do between Halloween and Christmas tends to be around 40 to 60 percent of annual sales,” Hawkins said. “How nervous companies must be. … We haven’t experienced this kind of an economy since the ’40s.”
The trick, Hawkins said, is for companies to figure out how to promote early enough to win consumers’ attention, but not so early they turn people away.
“There’s a real motivation to capture the buyers early before someone else does,” Hawkins said.
Meier & Frank visual director Vikki Henry said it doesn’t matter when a company decorates for the holidays, as long as it’s before Thanksgiving.
“There aren’t any fringe benefits to getting stuff up early,” Henry said.
Though Henry said she was 25 percent done setting up the store’s seasonal decorations on Nov. 2, she said she’s not starting early to increase holiday spending.
The reason for the promptness, Henry said, is to make sure everything is ready for the day after Thanksgiving, the busiest shopping day of the year.
“Regular business still goes on,” Henry said. In addition to her decorating duties, Henry said she must maintain the various sale displays throughout the store. She said she’s giving herself plenty of time to be ready for Nov. 23.
Customers have complained about the early decorations, Henry said, but there’s a reason.
“People just don’t realize that this has to be done so we’re prepared for the day after Thanksgiving. It’s not something that can be done quickly. This is a humongous store.”
Henry said she wouldn’t personally want to start thinking about Christmas until after Thanksgiving. She promised that Christmas music wouldn’t play in her store until then.
In the past few years, J.C. Penney men’s department manager Dean Martin said he received complaints for the store’s “early” decorations. This year, he said he hasn’t heard a single complaint, which he called a “good sign.”
University senior Tim Hove said it seems ludicrous to put holiday decorations up in October, but he said it’s not that big of a deal.
“If stores want to put up stuff early — let them do it,” Hove said. “I think there are people who do complain, but lots who don’t even notice. Some just say ‘Gee, that’s early this year’ and move on.”
Like Hove said, not everybody complains. Some people, such as University freshman Amalia Lucas, enjoy the hype.
“I think it’s kind of nice to extend the Christmas season,” Lucas said. “It feels nice.”
University junior journalism major and J.C. Penney Sales Associate Kristi Henderson said she was surprised to hear Santa Claus would be coming to town before Thanksgiving.
“The season tends to be a few weeks earlier every year,” Henderson said.
Holiday visuals may be springing up at area department stores, but seasonal music is a rarity. Other than the Christmas Corner shop in Valley River Center, most stores haven’t yet played holiday tunes for their customers. Though they may feel differently about decorations, Hove and Lucas agree it’s not quite time for carols.
“I can wait until December for that,” Hove said.