Never too early for Christmas goodies

If you thought Christmas really did come earlier every year, you're right - decorations went into many Auckland stores a fortnight ago, weeks earlier than last year.

And nearly three months out from the big day, customers are not feeling the festive spirit.

"You hear a lot of people saying 'Oh, no, not again'," says Paul Dyer, assistant manager of Briscoes Henderson.

Dyer says stores had got on the Christmas bandwagon about two weeks ago, which was "a good couple of weeks earlier" than before.

He has no idea why but says there is a definite knock-on effect - as soon as one store puts up a tree, the rest quickly follow suit.

Jess Dai, duty manager at K-Mart St Luke's, says trees and decorations are already decking the halls of the store.

"We started last week... We have sold a couple of [trees] since then."

A spokesperson from the Westfield Warehouse says the store also started the Christmas push a fortnight ago.

"We've got our Christmas trees up, and there's a few decorations - we've got wrapping paper, cards..."

But Westgate's Farmers store will be strictly non-festive until Labour Weekend, says store manager Allan Russell.

"We tried to hold it back a bit from last year - we don't really benefit, sales-wise, because people aren't really interested.

"Some of our bigger stores have started, though."

And in case you're wondering, the stores will close for Christmas in approximately 77 days.