Decked already? Christmas decorations up at Duquesne, local malls

Black Friday used to be the official first day of the holiday shopping season. But in recent years, many stores have begun decorating for winter holidays earlier and earlier so that it is difficult to determine when trick or treating stops and when Santa Claus sits down in his big chair at the mall.

For some, the fact that holiday decorations go up the first week of November might even be cause for humbug. The logic behind the twinkling lights and the holiday commercials beginning right after Halloween — or even before it — is that retailers are trying to get their customers in the holiday spirit as soon as possible so that they make more money over a longer period.

Jennifer Carroll, marketing director for the South Hills Village Mall in Bethel Park, said retailers' early November decorating is merely a response to consumer needs.

"With internet shopping and all the different ways for people to shop, consumers need to plan for Black Friday," Carroll said. "Shoppers strategize for that day."

According to Carroll, it is retail signage and décor that signals to consumers that they should begin gift shopping.

"The sooner they [the retailers] start decorating, the more people spend," Audrey Guskey said, an assistant professor in marketing at Duquesne.

The "Christmas creep" brings customers into stores earlier and earlier. Like a bug in people's ears, Guskey said people get the Christmas creep when they see holiday decorations, commercials, etc., which make them feel that the holidays are quickly approaching and they need to start their shopping as soon as possible.

Guskey said some retailers begin decorating for winter holidays directly following the back-to-school shopping season. Some retailers also decorate earlier when they predict that they will have a slow holiday shopping season that year.

"Retailers are basically banking on consumers spreading more over a period of time," Guskey said.

Stores also hope customers will begin holiday shopping early so that they can determine the hottest trends for that year, Guskey said. The earlier they see these trends, the better stocked they can be with the products everybody wants, especially in the toy aisle. The 1996 Tickle Me Elmo craze proved to retailers that they need to be stocked with the most-wanted items if they're going to keep up with their competition, she said.

In an e-mail to The Duke, Shema Krinsky, the director of marketing of the Mall at Robinson, said

retailers and customers are equally guilty of early holiday decorations.

"Retail centers, municipalities, cultural organizations and residents alike may invest a great deal in their decorations and want to be able to enjoy them for as long as it makes sense to do so," Krinsky wrote.  "From an emotional standpoint, holiday decorations and music make people happy and help them to feel festive."

Krinsky said that for the Mall at Robinson, the holiday season officially began Nov. 11, when Santa official took his seat in the mall.

Guskey also cited Light Up Night as a determining factor for the start of the holiday season, at least in Pittsburgh. Light Up Night will take place this Friday Downtown.

Duquesne's Light Up Night will be Dec. 1, following the Thanksgiving break, but some decorations have already been put up around campus. Bill Zilcosky, assistant director of Facilities Management, said that the University begins decorating early simply because, if they were to wait until after the break to do so, there would not be enough time to set up all the decorations.

"[The] reason they do it is because various departments inside Facilities who are responsible for decorating campus for Christmas are responsible for their daily work as well," Zilcosky said.

According to Zilcosky, Facilities Management also makes campus decorating a priority during the first three weeks of November because the weather is usually warmer.

"So long as you're not turning them on, I don't think people even notice," he said.