IPSWICH: August is usually a time for frolicking in the summer sunshine and basking in the rays, however a change of season came to Ipswich today – four months early.
Christmas has struck early for town residents with the QD store in Carr Street, Ipswich, filling a section of the shop with a festive mix of baubles, crackers and wrapping paper.
The walls of the store are decked with holly and staff are full of Christmas cheer.
The store has followed others across the country which have begun to stock Santa’s wintery goodies ahead of schedule.
Regardless of there being more than 126 days until December 25, Selfridges in London’s Oxford Street and the world-famous Harrods, both pulled out the tinsel, trees, and carols earlier this month.
Many stores are said to be transforming into Santa’s grotto early, becoming a children’s paradise.
Justin Farrington Smith, group managing director of QD, told the Evening Star that the company expected this year’s sales to be one of the best ever.
“You would be surprised how much Christmas stock we actually sell at this time of year,” he said.
“People tend to like to stock up on things and plan Christmas in advance. People also find that financially, buying in advance always helps people’s purse strings.”
“We normally start getting out our festive stock around mid-August as it is based on when we start to run low on our gardening stock.”
He said that the fact that the Ipswich store was selling Christmas goodies was a reflection of the great sales of gardening products this summer.
Mr Farrington Smith added: “We expect this year to be a great success sales-wise. With the financial situation the country is in, the public find our low prices really benefit them.”
Many shoppers are also preparing for an extra long Christmas celebration with two extra Bank Holiday days on the cards.
n Do you prepare for Christmas early in the year or prefer to leave it to the last minute? Write to Your Letters, Evening Star, 30 Lower Brook Street, Ipswich, IP4 1AN or you can send an e-mail to eveningstarletters@eveningstar.co.uk
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