Christmas shopping usually starts on "Black Friday" the day after Thanksgiving. It is traditionally the busiest shopping day of the year as folks head out to catch early sales. Last year, however, Wal-Mart bucked the trend and put popular items on sale a few weeks before Thanksgiving, and, because they are the leader in the retail industry, other stores followed. But this year, Wal-Mart is putting popular toys on sale by October 10th. That's right, October 10th. That's three weeks before Halloween and seven weeks before Black Friday! SEVEN! For those of you keeping track, it's also just two and a half weeks after the start of fall, and 11 weeks before Christmas. The reason for this crazy move? Well, in short, Wal-Mart, and the rest of the retail industry, is desperate. With the economy in such dire straights this could be the worst holiday shopping season in more than 15 years.
What do you think? Will we see Christmas shopping starting in September next year?
Here are a few stories from Reuters and the Associated Press.
Posted by Taylor - October 1, 2008 09:32 AM - In The News