Is September too early for people to start shopping for Christmas?
On a mild autumn afternoon, a new shop opens its doors on Dublin’s Grafton Street. Brown Thomas’ Christmas Shop, selling artificial Christmas trees, toys, and decorations of every kind, has opened for the second year in a row.
Elaine Bennett Toolan from the Brown Thomas Group emphasises the low-key nature of the opening,
We feel that it’s just something that’s nice to be available to most customers, and they have the choice. We haven’t actually advertised it, you know, it’s there, there’s no Santa Claus, things like that, so it’s very low key, and that’s the way we intend to keep it.
How do Dubliners feel about the Christmas shop opening in September? One woman has not purchased anything yet, but did have a look in,
It’s very depressing it’s open so early, but...I was just having a look at the toys.
And this man strongly disagrees with the timing of the shop’s opening,
The children who can’t comprehend time, and the passage of time, seein’ all this business now, they think it’s just around the corner. Of course it puts undue pressure on their parents, you know.
An RTÉ News report broadcast on 30 September 1997. The reporter is Walt Kilroy.
