Retail gets more depressing by the day. Now that plain discounts aren’t getting customers to shop, some stores are dressing them up as Christmas promotions, which usually don’t hit until November. Many customers find it sick to put up fake snow and inflatable Santas in July and August, as stores like Sears have done. This is especially offensive in Dallas, where Santa dolls perched on beds of white cotton balls merely taunt shoppers, for whom a cool day in August simply involves not breaking 100 degrees. Making the Christmas promotions even sadder, minuscule in-store displays suggest some stores are unsure of their summer Christmas sales strategy. Half-assing it is even more annoying to shoppers than the whole store dripping with fake snowflakes: “Either don’t do it or do it bigger, for heaven’s sake,” a Dallas shopper told The Wall Street Journal. A Sears rep says the response has been incredible (lies), and they plan to keep the display up for a few more weeks. As long as they leave human Santas out of it. Dressing up in that suit in summer would be torture, if a great way to lose water weight. But the sad thing is, in this economy, it wouldn’t be hard to fill that job.
