Christmas comes extra early at Coles and Woolworths

IT’S only September, but shoppers were outraged to see shelves groaning with mince pies and puddings this weekend. Woolies was even quicker off the mark.

IT’S still only September, but Coles is getting into the Christmas spirit already.

Shoppers were aghast to see mince pies, puddings and festive cakes filling the supermarket’s shelves this weekend.

The retailer’s festive season has started more than a month before Halloween.

Woolworths claimed this year’s early-bird crown, with rum balls, plum puddings and mince pies appearing at a store in Bulimba, Brisbane on September 9, a whopping 106 days before Christmas.

Meanwhile, Aldi’s festive stock launches this week and its special buys are “Early Christmas Baking” themed, with a two-litre “pudding steamer”, “pudding wrap” and brandy-flavoured mixed dried fruit on sale.

It’s not just Australia’s supermarkets ramping up the commercialisation as early as possible. With Father’s Day out of the way, all the major retailers are a season ahead.

One shopper reported buying Christmas decorations from Target as far back as July, while David Jones rolled out tinsel, trees, baubles and other festive trimmings last Monday. Rival Myer usually restrains itself until mid-October before opening its special ‘Giftorium’ shop.

Taken 21/09/2015 at Mooroolbark Coles.

The trend is strangest when it comes to edible treats: surely there’s no way any decent pastry will still be fresh in December?

There was an outcry on Reddit when user Ign1fy posted a photo of the shelves at Coles in Mooroolbark, Melbourne, laden with indulgent treats. The sugary snacks ranged from $1.50 value mince pieces to $20 Christmas fruit cake and gluten-free fruit mince bites.

“Just divide the year up into buying periods already,” wrote medicus_au.

“Christmas, Easter, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Halloween, Christmas again ... Do your patriotic duty and spend, spend, spend!”

Others called it “depressing” and said the trend was creating “artificial demand”, with one cynic observing that we are now in “the Christmas half of the year.”

Even employees claimed the festive stock had arrived earlier than usual this year. “I work at Coles, and it is very much a subject of mirth (or jolliness, as it were) how early we got this stuff this year,” wrote TheRealCJ.

“Ordinarily we don’t start getting stuff trickling in until the week after Halloween.”

But some customers said they accepted that retailers will always look for opportunities to make money, with HawkieEyes writing: “Shops wouldn’t stock it if there wasn’t a market for it. If it bothers you, don’t buy it.”

A Woolworths in Brisbane had filled its shelves with pieces by September 9.

User i_dreddit said they were more annoyed at hot cross buns going on sale in January, especially since they were available all year around at lower prices, only labelled “spicy fruit rolls”.

But in some parts of the world, September is late to start to begin the festive consumerism. Famous British department store Selfridges launched its Christmas shop in early August.

A spokesman for Coles said: “Only a select range of Christmas products are available at Coles stores now with more products coming in as we get closer to Christmas.”

A Woolworths spokesman said: “Woolworths stocks its shelves throughout the year with a variety of items our customers want to see. We know mince pies and similar festive products are very popular and our customers love them.”

Aldi told news.com.au: “In line with market trends and consumer demand, our first range of Christmas products went on sale this week, including all you need to prepare and mature your Christmas puddings in time for December. These on sale dates are planned in line with our customer shopping behaviors, and Christmas products will appear in store progressively over the coming weeks. This helps shoppers to plan ahead and avoid the stress of a last minute rush.”

What do you think? Are you annoyed by the “Christmas creep” or are you happy to get into the spirit now?