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I like the \"BURNT\" tag.
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@shoelace414: Usually the tag is \"tastes burnt,\" not just \"burnt.\" Looks like I might be the first commenter to use the whole phrase \"tastes burnt\"! ;)
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@shoelace414: Their chai tea lattes are the only thing I'll drink - their coffee is seriously disgusting.
Friends don't let friends drink Starbucks. Enough said.
However just for the record, Esquire coffee (Coffee Company out of BC.) just released their Xmas coffee cups and pastries. I'm going to make a Hanukkah cup just so I can fit in.
Funny this should pop up, because I just remembered hearing Christmas music on radio station while I was driving yesterday.
And we didn't even get past Thanksgiving yet.
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@enomosiki: I was at Rite-Aid on Nov. 1, picking through leftover Halloween candy. they started playing Jingle Bell Rock. I left immediately.
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@enomosiki: I dread this part every year. I swear last year, before Halloween could get out the door, they were playing The Christmas Song.
But there's something about hearing Baby, It's Cold Outside and paying attention to the creepy lyrics that says \"Welcome to the end of the year.\"
I wonder how old the prepacked beans typically are? If the holiday based ones are showing up around November 1st that would mean they were probably packed some point in October, possibly September. So they would be about 3 months old by the holidays.
Most of the stores like Target and Walgreens are a bizarre mish-mash of Halloween and Christmas. Skulls mixed in next to Santa and trees.
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@bohemian: Nothing wrong with this. I'm waiting for the display with Robot Santa, Zombie Jesus, and Kwanzaa-bot. And the inevitable cage match that will ensue.
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Tescos last week had special Bakewell Tarts with a Santa transfer on them. They were reduced to clear, being on their sell-by date. That's OCTOBER!
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Buy a latte from Starbucks and drink it as you shop in Pier One. A few days ago I was chased out of there by JOLLY music bringing me GOOD TIDINGS that wanted me to be MERRY.
I fled. Can't these stores figure it out? Making Christmas into a 3-4 month season isn't going to make three to four times the money. Shame on all of them for making holidays everydays.
@ninabi: Not to mention, spreading the holidays out over a longer time, dilutes their effect. People will find it less and less compelling if this trend goes on long enough ... and if that happens, then American retail will have killed the goose that laid the golden eggs.
Then I suppose they'll all just go running to the government for a bailout, which will, of course, oblige them. They will have learned nothing at all.
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@ninabi: Well as long as people buy their Doliday crap and shop their Doliday sales that early, they will make it earlier and earlier until it becomes less profitable. In this case, it's up to us.
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@ARP:
I actually liked Dolidays and thought you were referring to some Pier One special thing where they sell dolls. Awesome name, if I ever open a doll store I'm so going to have a couple of days near Xmas called Dollidays.
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Christmas ads showed up on the televison on Nov. 1. I have no doubt that starbucks probably did the same. WTF happened to thanksgiving?!
@Oranges w/ Cheese wants it to be winter already: I'm actually making a mental note of those commercials--and refusing to shop at them.
...Fortunately all I have seen thus far are Wal-Mart ads.
@Oranges w/ Cheese wants it to be winter already: It's because supermarkets are the only stores that really stand to make much money on Thanksgiving.
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@TWinter: My son works at a kitchen supply/foodie supply store. They had to work late Wednesday to put up all the holiday decorations. The owner said if she doesn't people will refuse to shop for their holiday stuff there, will go to the competition instead!
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The Starbucks at Kings Dominion had a stack of the cups out on October 24
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I definitely saw the Xmas stuff at Starbucks yesterday, Nov 4th in SF. I walk past several Starbucks on my way to work so it's easy to notice these things.
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At price chopper of Bennington Vermont, workers were wearing Santa hats. This occurred October 25.
It seems like it might be a good thing for businesses to put Christmas stuff out earlier this year. It gives people a chance to pick up gifts a little at a time. Of course, that's what I tell myself I'm going to do every year....
@Toffeecake: It's a double-edged sword because I would rather go to places that are not all decked out for Xmas right after Labor Day.
\"A reader wrote in on November 3rd to let us know\"
When I read that I thought it was a typo. Laughing to myself that it was not yet November but still October. WTF? Was I abducted by aliens for a few weeks?
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Mmm peppermint mocha. It's sad that there is a dearth of good coffee shops where I work. I google mapped some today and I'm not willing to walk 45 minutes round trip for my morning jolt. I do love starbucks' peppermint mocha though.
Starbucks releases the cups and holiday drinks early to go along with it's Thanksgiving Blend release. The real Christmas stuff doesn't begin untill later.
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@mike6545: Agreed. They're also re-releasing the (Red) cups for charity. I believe Christmas Blend isn't available yet (but I like Thanksgiving Blend better anyhow)
@chiieddy: Christmas Blend will be out sometime in the middle to late november. It's already in stores, just not on display and not for sale. (I work for the company). The red cups are actually just holday cups like each year but the idea of it being for product (red) works as well.
There's some cool gifts this year as well!
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Best tag ever.
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With less than two months until Christmas, plenty of people are already shopping. What with the OMG ARCTIC BLAST that raged through Portland last year, lots of people are already out buying Christmas presents. Working in retail, it's not really that surprising to see holiday stuff out in full force.
Coworker brought me an eggnog latte this morning and it was fan-freakin-tastic. I welcome our Christmas overlords.
@GrantGannon: My fave coffee drink ever! I look forward to Nov. 1 every year so I can make excessive, self-indulgent Starbucks trips for the glorious eggnog latte.
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'Jesus, you're early' is my new favourite tag.
I noticed the christmas-themed ads the first of November, and this past weekend in Target I saw a display of Hanukkah items. . .for pets. Because it just won't be the same if the dogs don't have their own menorah.
@JulesNoctambule: Instead of favorite tag, how about making it the opening line to a Consumerist commentator's progressive songwriting exercise? Each new poster has to add a line. I have a feeling this could either turn out hilariously, or end up as a number 1 pop hit. Possibly both.
\"Jesus, you're early...but salvation will not wait...\"
Next!
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@JulesNoctambule: My dog loves his candy cane rawhide! He knows it is extra special because it is shaped differently. He is super smart ; )
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Not really unusual, stores start selling stuff before Halloween is even over, so not really news.
The question should be \"ah but which year?\"
I am currently celebrating Xmas 2011 and shopping for Easter 2012. I am in two minds as to whether to start my prep for Xmas 2012 as the Mayans keep telling me not to bother.
Not just Starbucks that's getting an ultra-early start. Have you shopped at Macy's lately?
They started busting out the Christmas stuff three freakin' weeks ago here in Fort Wayne at Glenbrook Square. Two weeks ago, they added the Letters to Santa box. And now this week, they're playing Christmas music and selling Macy's-exclusive sailor Mickey Mouse plush, \"the official holiday ambassador to the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade\". (Can't complain about them choosing Mickey for the parade, as I'm a Disney fan.)
I couldn't take pictures in the mall or store, but it was weird seeing Christmas at my local Macy's even earlier than last year... Miracle on 34th Street it ain't.
Maybe it's because I worked in retail for many a holiday season, but this doesn't strike me as odd. Black Friday is only a few weeks away, so of course retailers are getting people \"in the mood.\" At most stores I worked at, the Halloween stuff came down and the Christmas stuff went up on Nov. 1. At any rate, I adore Christmas so I like the season to stretch out for a couple months anyway.
I don't mind it at all if everything shows up after November 1st. My family puts up the tree the day after Thanksgiving, so this gives us enough time to buy anything we need for the season. And the way things are right now, we could use all the cheer we can get.
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Immediately upon moving the Halloween stuff to the clearance area, my local Wal-mart put Christmas stuff in its place.
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Time to bust out my \"Thanksgiving: The Forgotten Holiday\" t-shirt.
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And this is why you need to move Thanksgiving to October, like in Canada. That way Christmas can start right after Thanksgiving (or Halloween, preferably) and there are still two full months to brace for it. Agreed, best tag ever. Even better than \"Chinese Poisson Train\" for tainted fish.
All I can say is that this better mean it's finally Gingerbread Latte time. Grr.
Does that mean they have Joy Tea available?
*makes mad dash for the door*
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Having read The Consumerist for a while now, I'm not really shocked at this christmas creep.
What I'm more shocked at is some of my neighbors who have put up their christmas lights already....and had them on the past 5 nights.
I won't complain about the eggnog lattes arriving early. BRING IT ON!
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I think Jesus was early for the 1st Christmas, too. Otherwise, M&J wouldn't have been traveling so close to the due date.
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@RandomHookup: Yes but Jesus wasn't born on Fucking December Twenty-Fifth for fucksakes already! Sheesh! They wouldn't have their flocks outside by night in the cold season! Sheesh already!
damnit, it's Xmas music time again, and you know what that means right? that means random people you see are going to be WHISTLING FUCKING XMAS SONGS because they just heard it in whatever store they were in and have it stuck in their head, but they probably don't mind because they're a freak that still likes xmas music. then it gets stuck in your head, because let's face it, who the fuck doesn't know all the lyrics and melodies to any xmas song since they play them every single year over and over and then you have people WHISTLING FUCKING XMAS SONGS and getting them stuck in your head. It's a vicious cycle. I'm moving to Japan. What, they love Xmas there too?!? FUCK!
I used to work at Starbucks and as far as I can tell all the stores roll out the Christmas cups and what not at the same time. Same with all their promotions with the exception of \"satellite\" stores like the Barnes and Noble Cafe - they have different rules. But normal stores get store-wide kits to do it with specific dates for everything.
It will get even more Christmas-y after Thanksgiving though ;)
Are they doing this with their \"Starbucks without Starbucks\" cafes?
I think its great. People start shopping earlier, and there is less of a budget crunch right before chirstmas. It almost forces people to plan when buying gifts.
@xtc46 - thinksmarter on twitter: I think it would be great if people wouldn't attach buying gifts to some fucking PAGAN HOLIDAY for a change!
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Starbucks Christmas rollout in Canada was November 3rd. All American stores had their soft launch the same day, it will officially be Christmas at American Starbucks (ie: all holiday drinks etc) on the 17th.
If you saw the red cups etc before the 3rd, it's because the store ran out of the regular cups.
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Just buy yourself an early Christmas present of a single cup coffee maker and then you won't have to deal with it. I still don't understand why people go to Starbucks on any sort of regular basis.
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Starbucks had the Christmas out here on Nov 1. But I can do one better. I was in a major mall (Westfarms in Farmington CT) on Halloween night, and the entire mall was fully decorated for Christmas, including Santa's pavillion at center court. There were trick-or-treaters wandering amidst this scene. It was both surreal and nauseating.
To the people who are saying Christmas isn't all that far away: First of all, 2 months is far away. There are only 12 months in a year. But second, you can have some holiday merchandise out early without having the whole store Christmas-a-fied before the jack o'lanterns are cold. I certainly start Christmas shopping in October. But I'm aware that it's October, not December, and can still make the decision to shop on my own. Christmas creep, with regards to decorations, music, commericals, etc, does not \"put me in the Christmas shopping mood\", it just pisses me off. It's no longer shopping early when we're being told we should be buying down to the stocking stuffers 8 weeks ahead of the holiday. It ruins almost the entire autumn/halloween/thanksgiving season.
Kalamazoo starbucks was X-mastastic on Nov 1 as well...
It's all about corporate greed and materialism.
No lattes this week. Only egg nog. Sorry.
Seriously? this happens every year. It isn't going to go away so deal with it!
When I had any control over it, I kept my establishment from busting out the Christmas crap until after Thanksgiving. It's out of my hands now -- Christmas cards in August, Christmas decor by Nov 1st. Barf barf barf.
I love the 'Jesus, you're early' tag.
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Yeah, but it's November. It's not like it's March and they're breaking out the Christmas stuff. Enough already.
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Stores are driving us to hate Christmas. Really, it's 70 degrees out, and I still don't know what I'm doing for Thanksgiving. The last thing I want to think about is Consumer-mas.
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Our Starbucks broke out the Christmas cups Nov. 1st. No joke.
@Kat@Work: As far as I'm concerned, it's never to early to start making the eggnog lattes....yum, yum!
@Kat@Work: So has my Tully's
@Kat@Work: Second Cup did the same thing. Even the ow-burn-my-hand protection sleeve says \"happy holidays\"
@Kat@Work: All the major networks broke out the christmas commercials too. Glade commercial on Monday night with SANTA coming down the chimney.
@Kat@Work: Eh, I think that November 1st is appropriate. For my family, that was the beginning of the \"Holiday Season\" anyway.
It's the places that have Christmas stuff out several days before Halloween that irk me.