Joy of Christmas

Posts Tagged ‘shopping’

You know Barnum, from Barnum and Bailey? The PT Barnum?

Well, it’s thanks to him that we get to enjoyed Macy’s extraordinary Christmas window displays.

PT Barnum and Rh Macy were friends in the 1860s and it was Barnum who suggested that Macy for this incredible collection of mechanical toys in the windows of his shop around Christmastime.

And so started tradition that continues all the way up to two days Christmas displays filled with amazing high-tech elements

This year’s theme is the making of Christmas magic.

The six large windows which face Broadway will show all the tender loving care that goes into making the magic of Christmas. The Christmas lights, the ornaments, the snow in tinsel…

No sales products will be shown in these displays; those are reserved for the smaller windows at the other sides of the building.

Planning for the Christmas windows starts shortly after Christmas and goes on all through the year.

The display started to be more exuberant when the tradition of this Thanksgiving day parade started in 1924. The over-the-top window displays were a great way to draw in the enormous amount of people that were coming by.

Although it’s been at least 19 years since there was a White Christmas in Charleston, South Carolina, retailer still go with the “White Christmas” theme.

Storeowners say that it’s symbolic: Winter speaks of the Christmas tradition most people think they remember.

But behind the emotion there is business strategy as well.

Winterized window displays set the tone for shoppers in warmer places.

In a place like Los Angeles it’s only the window displays that will trigger the Christmas spirit. The leaves don’t change, there is no big change in the weather. The only visual clues are the ones provided by retailers.

So, although places will produce and use fake snow.

The stores in the hotter places have to carefully balance their act. These places tend to get visits from snowbirds; people who are there for the warm weather and don’t want to be reminded about winter at all.

No need to explain that this Christmas season a shopping environment is different from ever before. The economy is down and so is yours.

Some Christmas buying shopping rules that use to apply don’t this year.

We ask consumer expert Clark Howard to share some of his insight.

“The black Friday deals are extraordinary, they are probably better than January clearance sales, retailers are doing the black Friday sales just to get you in the stores and they actually lose money on those sales.

Lay away is so good at helping people number one -control expense, number two – not pay interest, number three, being able to buy something while it’s on sale – but not pay for it until you have the money.

Gift cards are very dangerous. I’ve never liked gift cards, but this year they will tear your wallet apart. So many restaurants and retailers are going to close and a gift card is only as good as that retailer is.
– Clark Howard, consumer expert

He does warn against the sales just off the Christmas; according to Clark prices won’t go down until mid-January. That is because retailers will try to get the full price for as long as possible. Only when the influx of buyers stops ,which is usually around mid-January, will they start to drop prices.

A British health study decided to crack the limelight by hooking into the Christmas season. Yes, Christmas shopping may be bad for your health!

Bad for my health, you ask.

Yes, bad for your health.

The crowded malls. Crowded malls means long lineups. If there are a lot of people at the mall they had to get there somewhere so; a lot of traffic, difficulty finding parking.

And it gets “worse”! There is a continuous Christmas music playing in the background.

Altogether a cold tribute to rising blood pressure, pounding hearts. And those mounting stress levels in turn can lead to headaches, panic attacks and even stroke and heart disease!

The “study” found that no less than 50% of shoppers are overwhelmed and stressed out during the Christmas season.

The survey in Germany, performed by the magazine Stern, shows that one in three Germans will spend less money this year on Christmas gifts than in previous years.

The numbers are an indicator that the financial crisis is hitting hard in Europe: Germans are considered frugal shoppers already.

On the other hand, a little bit over half of the Germans set it there will spend about the same amount of money or more than in 2007.

Taking the average of the poll most people will spend around 300 euro (around US$375).

Still, a good quarter of those surveyed said that they will spend hundred Euro or less.

Germany is considered the world’s third-biggest economy while numbers released last week show that Germany has slipped into a recession for the first time in five years.