"Biggest Holiday of the Year"

[JayhawkCO]

What's the first thing that comes to mind when I say October?

Autumn colors.  Followed by Halloween

Due to geography, especially this year, I don't primarily think about Autumn colors in October.

[Max Rockatansky]

What's the first thing that comes to mind when I say October?

Autumn colors.  Followed by Halloween

Due to geography, especially this year, I don't primarily think about Autumn colors in October.

Do they have "leaf peeping" tourism in Colorado?  We don't in California and I don't remember it being a thing in Arizona either.

[JayhawkCO]

What's the first thing that comes to mind when I say October?

Autumn colors.  Followed by Halloween

Due to geography, especially this year, I don't primarily think about Autumn colors in October.

Do they have "leaf peeping" tourism in Colorado?  We don't in California and I don't remember it being a thing in Arizona either.

For sure we do. We just hit peak color here in September.

[kphoger]

especially this year

Yeah, I expect a very ugly autumn.

We just hit peak color here in September.

I think my association of October with fall colors is primarily due to my time living in the Chicago area.

[GaryV]

Let's Rorschach it then. What's the first thing that comes to mind when I say October? November?

All the stores have Christmas stuff out. Heck, it starts in September just after school starts.

[Scott5114]

Let's Rorschach it then. What's the first thing that comes to mind when I say October? November?

All the stores have Christmas stuff out. Heck, it starts in September just after school starts.

Yeah, that was my first thought. Thanksgiving ought to be the holiday on everybody's mind for most of November. But because it's only really profitable for grocery stores, it gets drowned out by early Christmas stuff.

Now that I'm thinking about it...the stores always put all that stuff out so early, so you'd think the answer to this would be yes, but...does anyone actually buy that Christmas stuff that early? I can't imagine what the motivation would be to buy, like, wreaths or fake Santas or whatever in September. I sort of wonder if it's cargo-cult management (we put the Christmas stuff out in September because we always put it out in September).

[Max Rockatansky]

Let's Rorschach it then. What's the first thing that comes to mind when I say October? November?

All the stores have Christmas stuff out. Heck, it starts in September just after school starts.

Yeah, that was my first thought. Thanksgiving ought to be the holiday on everybody's mind for most of November. But because it's only really profitable for grocery stores, it gets drowned out by early Christmas stuff.

Now that I'm thinking about it...the stores always put all that stuff out so early, so you'd think the answer to this would be yes, but...does anyone actually buy that Christmas stuff that early? I can't imagine what the motivation would be to buy, like, wreaths or fake Santas or whatever in September. I sort of wonder if it's cargo-cult management (we put the Christmas stuff out in September because we always put it out in September).

The seasonal merchandise typically is the second highest profit margin department we carry after soft lines.  If we can sell the items at full price, it makes a decent chunk of change.  Even at clearance prices there is still profits to be made given the initial mark up over cost is so high.  Typically, we sell out the seasonal goods completely and rarely have to dispose of any of it.

[vdeane]

What's the first thing that comes to mind when I say October?

Spooky season (Halloween/fall)

What's the first thing that comes to mind when I say ... November?

Cold and dreary; winter-lite

Tier 1 holidays (define their entire months):
Christmas
Thanksgiving

Tier 2 holidays (fun):
4th
Halloween

Tier 3 holidays (well-known day off):
Memorial Day
Labor Day
New Years

Tier 4 holidays (possibly a day off, or not officially a holiday and not all that fun, but always know it's happening):
MLK Day
Valentines
St. Patrick's
Easter
Mother's Day
Father's Day
Juneteenth

Tier 5 holidays (usually don't know it's happening):
President's Day
Ash Wednesday
Palm Sunday
Good Friday
Columbus Day
Veterans Day

I think this shows how different things can be in different parts of the country.  I'd never put Thanksgiving on the same level as Christmas, even though it's become the more major holiday in my family, simply because of how Christmas takes over multiple months of the year (half the radio stations are already on 24/7 Christmas music by the time Thanksgiving rolls around, for instance).  Thanksgiving doesn't really give you a reason to think about it in the weeks leading up to it like Christmas does, and it's over much more quickly.  And Columbus Day is the prime leaf-peeping weekend in the Northeast, with travel on par with the summer holidays.  I've also noticed that traffic tends to be elevated on the usual travel corridors around Juneteenth as well.

Regarding New Years, I don't really consider New Year's Day to be all that significant.  New Year's Eve is the one everyone I know does stuff on.  January 1 is just a day to sleep in after staying up to midnight the night before.

[Scott5114]

Let's Rorschach it then. What's the first thing that comes to mind when I say October? November?

All the stores have Christmas stuff out. Heck, it starts in September just after school starts.

Yeah, that was my first thought. Thanksgiving ought to be the holiday on everybody's mind for most of November. But because it's only really profitable for grocery stores, it gets drowned out by early Christmas stuff.

Now that I'm thinking about it...the stores always put all that stuff out so early, so you'd think the answer to this would be yes, but...does anyone actually buy that Christmas stuff that early? I can't imagine what the motivation would be to buy, like, wreaths or fake Santas or whatever in September. I sort of wonder if it's cargo-cult management (we put the Christmas stuff out in September because we always put it out in September).

The seasonal merchandise typically is the second highest profit margin department we carry after soft lines.  If we can sell the items at full price, it makes a decent chunk of change.  Even at clearance prices there is still profits to be made given the initial mark up over cost is so high.  Typically, we sell out the seasonal goods completely and rarely have to dispose of any of it.

But how much of it is sold before Dec. 1? Before Nov. 1?

I can envision a retail manager looking at those margins and putting the stuff out on Sep. 1 and congratulating himself on being very smart for chasing those big margins, even if it doesn't actually result in a meaningful increase in sales.

I guess I just wonder who the market is for Christmas stuff in September. My mom was the type who would buy up all the marked down Christmas stuff after the holiday and put it into storage, unopened, with the rest of the Christmas stuff when we took it down. It wouldn't actually get used until the next year. So we were never tempted to buy Christmas stuff in September because we had new-in-box Christmas stuff in the attic we'd never actually gotten to do anything with.

As an adult I don't buy Christmas stuff at all, mostly because we have cats, but also because we just straight up don't have the disposable income to celebrate the holiday in general. I have a tree (I think, anyway; now that I think about it I'm not entirely sure I brought it out to Nevada) but I haven't put it up since we got the cats.

[jeffandnicole]

Let's Rorschach it then. What's the first thing that comes to mind when I say October? November?

All the stores have Christmas stuff out. Heck, it starts in September just after school starts.

Yeah, that was my first thought. Thanksgiving ought to be the holiday on everybody's mind for most of November. But because it's only really profitable for grocery stores, it gets drowned out by early Christmas stuff.

Now that I'm thinking about it...the stores always put all that stuff out so early, so you'd think the answer to this would be yes, but...does anyone actually buy that Christmas stuff that early? I can't imagine what the motivation would be to buy, like, wreaths or fake Santas or whatever in September. I sort of wonder if it's cargo-cult management (we put the Christmas stuff out in September because we always put it out in September).

The seasonal merchandise typically is the second highest profit margin department we carry after soft lines.  If we can sell the items at full price, it makes a decent chunk of change.  Even at clearance prices there is still profits to be made given the initial mark up over cost is so high.  Typically, we sell out the seasonal goods completely and rarely have to dispose of any of it.

But how much of it is sold before Dec. 1? Before Nov. 1?

I can envision a retail manager looking at those margins and putting the stuff out on Sep. 1 and congratulating himself on being very smart for chasing those big margins, even if it doesn't actually result in a meaningful increase in sales.

I guess I just wonder who the market is for Christmas stuff in September. My mom was the type who would buy up all the marked down Christmas stuff after the holiday and put it into storage, unopened, with the rest of the Christmas stuff when we took it down. It wouldn't actually get used until the next year. So we were never tempted to buy Christmas stuff in September because we had new-in-box Christmas stuff in the attic we'd never actually gotten to do anything with.

As an adult I don't buy Christmas stuff at all, mostly because we have cats, but also because we just straight up don't have the disposable income to celebrate the holiday in general. I have a tree (I think, anyway; now that I think about it I'm not entirely sure I brought it out to Nevada) but I haven't put it up since we got the cats.

There are quite a number of people that go all-out for Christmas; me included. I would often buy outdoor Christmas decor (mainly, blowmolds) as soon as they hit the shelves, whether it be September or October. 

The other question/answer to this is: What else do you put out this time of year to fill the shelves? People will say "Don't forget about Thanksgiving".  Yet, "Dammit, I wish there was more Thanksgiving decor to shop for" is not a phrase most people utter.  So, Christmas stuff and toys it is.

If people looked closely, they would notice in January that the shelves transition over to lawn and garden stuff or home improvement stuff, even though in many areas of the country people don't really work on their lawns and gardens for another few months.  It's just not a polarizing as Christmas Stuff in October.

[Max Rockatansky]

Let's Rorschach it then. What's the first thing that comes to mind when I say October? November?

All the stores have Christmas stuff out. Heck, it starts in September just after school starts.

Yeah, that was my first thought. Thanksgiving ought to be the holiday on everybody's mind for most of November. But because it's only really profitable for grocery stores, it gets drowned out by early Christmas stuff.

Now that I'm thinking about it...the stores always put all that stuff out so early, so you'd think the answer to this would be yes, but...does anyone actually buy that Christmas stuff that early? I can't imagine what the motivation would be to buy, like, wreaths or fake Santas or whatever in September. I sort of wonder if it's cargo-cult management (we put the Christmas stuff out in September because we always put it out in September).

The seasonal merchandise typically is the second highest profit margin department we carry after soft lines.  If we can sell the items at full price, it makes a decent chunk of change.  Even at clearance prices there is still profits to be made given the initial mark up over cost is so high.  Typically, we sell out the seasonal goods completely and rarely have to dispose of any of it.

But how much of it is sold before Dec. 1? Before Nov. 1?

I can envision a retail manager looking at those margins and putting the stuff out on Sep. 1 and congratulating himself on being very smart for chasing those big margins, even if it doesn't actually result in a meaningful increase in sales.

I guess I just wonder who the market is for Christmas stuff in September. My mom was the type who would buy up all the marked down Christmas stuff after the holiday and put it into storage, unopened, with the rest of the Christmas stuff when we took it down. It wouldn't actually get used until the next year. So we were never tempted to buy Christmas stuff in September because we had new-in-box Christmas stuff in the attic we'd never actually gotten to do anything with.

As an adult I don't buy Christmas stuff at all, mostly because we have cats, but also because we just straight up don't have the disposable income to celebrate the holiday in general. I have a tree (I think, anyway; now that I think about it I'm not entirely sure I brought it out to Nevada) but I haven't put it up since we got the cats.

Nothing substantial moves until the first markdown.  The local store sales managers don't really get a say when stuff gets put on the floor or the markdown cadence.  Those orders come the HQ Buyers via planograms.

My opinion on Buyers tends to not be the best.  I'm reminded of the infamous "snow shovels in Key West" incident of 2013. 

[Scott5114]

What else do you put out this time of year to fill the shelves?

The store I go to is currently putting out Spam.

More to the point, I find that I end up preferring stores that don't acknowledge the passing of time at all. If they don't have to constantly change their seasonal inventory, they don't have to rearrange things to make room, I can find the stuff I want because it's always in the same place, and I'm a happy customer. I went to the Crest grocery store in Oklahoma for like eight years, and in that time they rearranged their store layout exactly once, because Oklahoma liberalized their liquor laws so they added a liquor section. The one time we've been back to Norman since we moved, we popped into Crest and it looked exactly the same as they day we left. I love that place.

Nothing substantial moves until the first markdown.  The local store sales managers don't really get a say when stuff gets put on the floor or the markdown cadence.  Those orders come the HQ Buyers via planograms.

My opinion on Buyers tends to not be the best.  I'm reminded of the infamous "snow shovels in Key West" incident of 2013. 

Since it's dumb and doesn't acknowledge reality, I could have guessed it came from corporate HQ. While I do like WinCo, it's kind of obvious they have the same problem. Their staffing and stocking schedule resembles that which you might find in any city in the US. But that doesn't make a whole lot of sense in Las Vegas, where schedules are set by the Strip. So you can get in and out really fast if you go at other cities' rush hour time and they have all the registers open with nobody to check out, whereas if you go at midnight you get to wait in line for an hour because the whole city is getting off work, they have one register open, and the aisles are full of shoppers fighting to get around stock clerks.

[1995hoo]

.... Thanksgiving doesn't really give you a reason to think about it in the weeks leading up to it like Christmas does ....

I'll disagree with this to the extent one is hosting other people for Thanksgiving dinner, in which case it does involve thinking fairly heavily about it and planning ahead. (Even more so if those people are staying over, but we've never had anyone stay with us that weekend—every time we've hosted people, they've been local.)

[elsmere241]

I voted for Christmas, even though it's neither my favorite holiday nor the one that I think is most important.  But it's biggest, in that it affects more people and in a bigger way than any other holiday.

Thanks to my parents shoving it down my throat, Christmas was my least favorite day of the year for a while.  I even stayed home for the last two (of four) Christmases when I was living in Raleigh.

A few years after that though, my new wife was really in to Christmas (still is) but is sensitive to my limits with it.  We'll usually go to Longwood Gardens around that time and do a few other things, but otherwise keep it relatively low-key.

[vdeane]

.... Thanksgiving doesn't really give you a reason to think about it in the weeks leading up to it like Christmas does ....

I'll disagree with this to the extent one is hosting other people for Thanksgiving dinner, in which case it does involve thinking fairly heavily about it and planning ahead. (Even more so if those people are staying over, but we've never had anyone stay with us that weekend—every time we've hosted people, they've been local.)

Yeah, my parents and I have never hosted, and though I stay over, I'm just sleeping in my childhood bedroom, so the logistics are fairly simple.  My Dad's side of the family used to live all local until recently (aside from the Michigan contingent, but we only see them once a year or so at the family picnic), and my Mom's side is now all down in Florida for the winter.  We did used to host my Mom's side for Christmas, before my grandparents passed and my aunt and uncle moved away from the area.

Oddly enough, Thanksgiving seems to be becoming a larger holiday for my Dad's side (my Mom's side hasn't had formal family gatherings in at least a decade).  Looking at how things have evolved, from most to least major:

Dad's side (childhood):
-Family picinc
-Christmas Eve
-Thanksgiving, Easter
-New Year's Eve/Day, Memorial Day, July 4, Labor Day
-Mother's Day, Father's Day, the birthdays of the kids
-Weekly spaghetti lunches on Sundays

Mom's side (childhood):
-Thanksgiving, Christmas
-Mother's Day, Father's Day, birthdays

Dad's side (now*):
-Family picinc
-Thanksgiving
-Christmas Eve, Easter
-Memorial Day, July 4, Labor Day

*This is evolving still.  I'm not entirely convinced the three summer holidays are fully alive, and we now have a birthday to celebrate again (us adults have long since decided we have too much stuff and haven't bothered, but one of my cousins has a daughter who turns one next month, so it looks like we have one to celebrate again).  The reason for Christmas Eve and Thanksgiving flip-flopping is because so much of the Geneseo contingent now lives in Florida, that they've decided to spend every other year down there for the holidays.  Since we usually only saw them at Christmas Eve and the Family Picnic, they decided to start hosting us for Thanksgiving instead.

As for the other holidays?  Mother's Day and Father's Day stopped being organized things after my grandparents passed.  The spaghetti lunches stopped around the same time, as that generation passed on.  New Year's Day stopped as soon as Grandma could no longer host it, and my parents and I kept New Year's Eve for a few years after, until a couple of our cousins decided to spend the week or so after Christmas with the Michigan contingent; by that point, my first cousins were in college and often working part-time jobs on top of that, so I didn't see them much.

If they don't have to constantly change their seasonal inventory, they don't have to rearrange things to make room, I can find the stuff I want because it's always in the same place, and I'm a happy customer

Around here, stores usually have at least one "seasonal" section, so they don't have to rearrange the entire store; they just wait for stuff to sell out and then move the next season's stuff in.  It usually cycles Valentine's Day, Easter, summer stuff, Halloween, Christmas.

[kphoger]

I find that I end up preferring stores that don't acknowledge the passing of time at all.

It sounds good in theory, but it doesn't work in real life.

A larger stock and selection of grilling stuff makes sense in the summer, because people are buying more of it.  If not, then the store would constantly be out of what people are wanting to buy.  And that larger stock might steal space away from some other aisle.

They don't really need to have snow shovels and windshield scrapers out in June, so that aisle space then becomes available for all the extra grilling stuff.

It seems pretty commonsense to have more space for more stuff of what people are actually buying that time of year, but aisle space is limited.

And then one obvious simple solution is, instead of constantly shuffling merchandise around based on shoppers' seasonal needs, to just have a whole section of the store for the type of items whose popularity with shoppers is most affected by the seasons.  And there you go, that's your seasonal section.

Kind of like how more of the meat refrigerators should be used for turkeys and hams in them during the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays than in, say, August.  Otherwise, the store will constantly be out of the kinds of meat their customers are actually wanting to buy.  But, for summer holidays. more of it should have bratwurst and hot dogs and tubs of potato salad—because otherwise the store will constantly be out of... you get the idea.  Better to just have a big refrigerated area for seasonal items.

[Max Rockatansky]

Not acknowledging the passage of seasons seems to work for Bronner's in Frankenmuth, Michigan.

[formulanone]

I don't think it does.  But I have the opposite issue:  I don't think Thanksgiving defines the entire month of November either.

Let's Rorschach it then. What's the first thing that comes to mind when I say October?

Rorschach Hashanah?

[kphoger]

Rorschach Hashanah

Was he a poet?