Actually the timing is just about right for the hard core Christmas Collector out there amongst us. They shop early for the best selection, full price be damned. These guys are why department stores start their Christmas Shops right after Labor Day…its catering to this group specifically and the sales generated support the early opening. How do I know…I was the Christmas Shop manager at both a Dillards and Bullocks store back in the day.

“…the timing may be right for that hardcore Christmas Collector among us…”

I appreciate the attempt to validate this, fraz, and respect your background, but with department stores putting the pedal down through their back-to-school phases, I defy you to find me a Christmas display in a Macy’s or Kohl’s. The holidays aren’t even a gleam in their eye (especially with Labor Day practically three weeks away). For every single hardcore person excited at seeing this way-too-early offering in the decidedly non-department-store Costco, there’s 57.6 of us regular folk who are facepalming and walking by, wondering if we blinked in June and missed the Halloween display.

No offense taken and sorry if I was trying to validate it, I was just trying to lay down the groundwork for why they do what they do. I personally like the Nordstrom approach where nothing is up until the day after Thanksgiving.