In the US stores put out Christmas things in late October to a lot of people’s annoyance.

I know that Black Friday isn’t a thing in Europe, but I was curious if you had the same problem with your stores trying to force Christmas shopping to start early.

28 comments

  2. Late October? Supermarkets in Germany were selling Christmas stuff already in September. Unlike you guys, we don’t have buffers like Thanksgiving and Halloween, so they have to start early.

  3. Christmas in October and Black Friday are totally a thing in the EU, and both are turning me into a grinch!

  6. In my local Lidl here in Sicily, the Christmas sweets,cakes etc appeared two weeks ago.

    Along with the Halloween stuff in fact!

  7. They seem to put up Christmas stuff earlier and earlier each year, it’s disgusting. You can easily find. Christmas goods in stores in early September.

    And we have Black Friday from Wish. Really meager sales that last an entire week. Anything to milk every last buck out of people.

  9. Yes! Every year it’s earlier and earlier. Just yesterday in the supermarket I saw some Halloween decorations right next to a shelf of Christmas sweets. I also find it annoying, I wish they’d wait until at least until late November.

    And just so you know, many European countries have indeed imported the Black Friday in the last 5-10 years. Many stores have Black Friday discounts nowadays. But instead of concentrating it on the actual Friday its usually just discounts throughout the week.

  10. Black Friday started to be a thing like 10 years ago but it’s mostly a scam and mainly online . Fuckers raise prices a few weeks before then lower them to normal and claim they have huge sales . Only some products are really on sale

    Christmas seems to start earlier every year ..lidl already selling Christmas things . Wouldn’t surprise me if the cities started hanging out the lights next week

  11. let’s say there are two shopping isles with themed products in a store. In june/july, one will have grilling equipment, other will have school supplies. in august, grilling supplies are replaced by halloween themed products and in september school supplies are replaced by christmas stuff. after halloween easter products are introduces.

  12. Spar does this deal 12 deals of Christmas, that lasts for the 12 weeks leading up to Christmas. So there’s already ads on tv and Christmas deals in shops by September

  15. In one of my stores (the local one of a large chain) Christmas stuff was out at AUGUST, 1st. Common is one month later.

    Right now you will not find a single shop without Christmas stuff.

  16. Black Friday was a big deal in Britain about 10 years ago but the mania has calmed down somewhat, mostly because the deals offered usually aren’t that good any more, and because consumer electronics are cheaper than ever.

    There absolutely is festive creep however. I remember the Tesco store near me had Easter (this year it was 9 April) sweets on sale in January, immediately after the Christmas stuff came down off the shelves. Most shops now have a mix of Halloween and Christmas stuff, which they’ve been selling since the end of August. Once Halloween (and our Bonfire Night on 5 November) is over, it’ll be 100% Christmas.

    I don’t like it personally because I think it cheapens a special time of the year, but clearly there must be someone buying Christmas chocolate in September because otherwise they wouldn’t do it.

    Then again, I think people have been complaining about this almost my entire life (I’m 31) so I don’t think it’s new. Wikipedia says it’s referred to in films from the 1970s and music from the 1990s.

  19. >I was curious if you had the same problem with your stores trying to force Christmas shopping to start early.

    Yes, stores have had Christmas stuff for a while now already (maybe since around September). It almost seems like it’s just earlier and earlier every year. The most annoying part is that when Christmas actually comes they disappear from stores quite quickly. I’m not interested in buying Christmas things early in the autumn, but I would be interested in them during the Christmas time and until at least epiphany, but it is usually gone by then.

    >I know that Black Friday isn’t a thing in Europe

    It didn’t used to be, but over the last few years it has become a thing. It’s not connected to any holiday or what is available in shops, it’s just a sale. And a lot of the “black Friday” sales last longer than the one day. Often maybe a week.

  20. The main annoyance is the pepernoten that are in supermarkets too early. They’re button sized spiced cookies that are a Sinterklaas celebration treat (december 5th). They’re in supermarkets in august.

    I refuse to eat them until the daily Sinterklaas news show starts a few weeks before Sinterklaas.

  21. We have Sinterklaas which is doing the “old man in a red robe with a white beard giving he presents to kids” thing but it ends on December the 5th. So it holds back most of the Christmas stuff till then.

  23. > I know that Black Friday isn’t a thing in Europe

    Now where did you get that information from? Really acreams r/confidentlyincorrect

  24. In the UK Christmas food was just starting to appear in Tesco (big supermarket) from late August.

    I just spent the first half of October in Croatia, and visited a big branch of Konzum (big supermarket) and there was no Christmas stuff there whatsoever. They really have got the right idea.

    Unfortunately Black Friday has started to appear as a concept – largely imported by Amazon – despite the fact that the preceding event of Thanksgiving goes entirely unmentioned. It’s like introducing Boxing Day but not celebrating Christmas.

    As a matter of principle I refuse to do anything Christmassy whatsoever in my personal life until the 1st December.

  25. German super markets start selling Christmas stuff once the summer vacation for kids is over, August to September.

  26. yeah we had Christmas stuff in Sweden as early as August. also, why wouldn’t we have black Friday?

  27. Christmas cookies and pastries (Spekulatius, Stollen, Lebkuchen) started to show up in early September iirc. So, yes 🙁

  28. My local supermarket (in rural Portugal) started playing Christmas songs in AUGUST.

    Anyway, there’s been Christmas stuff on the shelves for over a month now. There’s a little of Halloween stuff for those who celebrate it (though it’s not as big as it is in North America), and as someone else has said we don’t have Thanksgiving so as soon as the little Halloween phase is over, it’s all Christmas.

    I went to a big Lidl store yesterday and there were 3 aisles with Christmas stuff (decorations, sweets, etc in different sections), while Halloween (the closest celebration out of the two) only had a tiny aisle dedicated to it.

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