It may be September, but stores around Saskatoon are preparing extra early for one of the biggest shopping seasons of the year.

“It honestly takes so much time to set up the shelves, to price all the single little ornaments — Christmas is a lot of work to set up — so that’s honestly the reason why,” Jill Vanduyvendyk at Dutch Growers said.

Vanduyvendyk said the store starts buying Christmas product one year in advance to make sure it’s ready for the following season.

“We’ve been getting into Christmas early as long as I can remember.”

Dutch Growers will have Christmas trees for people to look at and purchase.

“A lot of families even come in just to see the ambience and get them into the Christmas spirit.”

Marketing expert Ryan Townend said some of the most successful stores are going to already have their shelves stocked with red, green and white.

“(Retailers) want to maximize the selling season,” he said. “They want to become the first out of the gate.”

Townend explained that there are two types of consumers when it comes to the holidays.

“There are ones that hate the holiday season, and they love to get a jumpstart on their Christmas list. There are the other people though that totally get turned off by this. They find it very distasteful and disrespectful to start marketing Christmas before Remembrance Day and they would much rather see that be left in the December season.

“It truly is a psychological game. You want to appeal to the early shopper without alienating the existing customer base.”

Wilson’s Greenhouse said it is also looking to finish decorating for Christmas before October hits.

“We haven’t even got in our pumpkins yet and we are already setting up Christmas,” said Madie Anholt, assistant store manager at Wilson’s Greenhouse.

She said they are a full month ahead of schedule.

“Customers are very eager to get started, even in September. It’s 30 degrees outside and we are inside setting up Christmas.”

This year, Wilson’s will be setting up an Artisan Christmas Market where Saskatoon crafters will come together to sell local arts and crafts.

“That’s happening at the end of November,” Anholt said. “We want people not to just come and support local, us, but local crafters too.”

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